Heaven scent
PERFUMED PLANTS CAN STIR YOUR SENSES LIKE NOTHING ELSE, AND THERE’S ONE FOR EVERY SEASON
IT’S easy to focus on what your garden looks like – but put some effort into fragrance and you’ll open up a whole new dimension. Because you don’t realise what you’re missing until you walk into a truly fragrant garden.
Scent makes a garden doubly fascinating, as it delights your nose as well as your eyes, and it’s an instant stress-buster.
Yet fragrance is quite an elusive quality. Not all flowers described as scented can pump out the perfume – it’s often more of a trickle.
And even the most powerfully perfumed plants don’t always produce maximum strength bang on cue as they need the right conditions. So you can’t just take scent for granted – it needs managing. And that’s true whether you are making a perfumed garden from scratch or just adding fragrance to your existing patch.
The first thing to keep in mind is situation. Floral scents linger longest in cool, moist conditions where the air is still, which is why you notice them most in the evening.
And it pays to keep scents separated. Some can certainly clash, so when taking your nose for a walk it’s far more agreeable to move from an easily identified patch of lavender or pinks to a rose bed and on to a collection of herbs, with a slight space in between.
Don’t rely entirely on flowers. You need a mixture of the two basic groups of scented plants, flowering and foliage, to bring out the best of the garden.
Scented flowers are like floral advertisements that switch on to attract pollinating insects, then close down when the job has been done. This means that they only produce scent over a short season.
Plants with scented leaves are longer lasting but more interactive – you need to touch or lightly bruise the foliage to release the scent. As a general rule, scented leaved plants need a hot, dry spot, which concentrates the volatile oils responsible for the fragrance. So grow these in pots on your patio, as trimmed dwarf edgings alongside a path or, in the case of low, creeping species, in paving cracks.
They peak in the heat of summer and lose all or most of their fragrance in winter.
Don’t save scented plants for your best-looking situations. Place them where they will be appreciated most, even when you can’t see the flowers – underneath windows that you open in summer or trained out across the garage wall. And do have something special by the front door. It makes a great first impression.
It also pays to plan for seasonality. You don’t want to throw all of your big guns into July, when the roses, lavenders and pinks are all out at once, then have nothing for the rest of the year. Arrange a succession of scents so there is something to enjoy every single month.
Rely on heavy hitters such as roses and lavender, by all means, but don’t forget to introduce the occasional special treat, such as the plum tart iris.