Flowers that just make scents
Has some great options for new gardeners looking for plantings that will delight their senses.
It could be considered a blow to the human ego that the incredibly delightful, nose-tingling and transporting fragrances of the garden appeal to us only by happy coincidence. The complex chemical makeup of the essential oils developed in the petals of flowers is entirely focused on attracting their favourite pollinators. Waiting until their blooms reach perfect maturity, plants will hold back their most fragrant performance for ideal fertilisation conditions. The resulting fragrance released into the air has two distinct purposes.
The first is to specifically attract their ideal pollinator, the second is to remind their visitor of the great feed it has enjoyed, encouraging them to seek out the same variety elsewhere to complete the fertilisation cycle. For instance, sweet apple blossom pulls in bees to feast on the delicious nectar, get covered in pollen and drunkenly head off to the next tree bargaining for a repeat performance.
Other plants, such as evening primrose, release their headiest scent as night falls to attract their preferred moths or, in some countries, bats.
Of course, not all plants release an attractive scent, or indeed any at all. Every year, I wonder why my shasta daisies are covered in fly poo, now realising their unappealing smell is the reason.
Like others in their ranks, such as sea holly and even some pear trees, these plants are on a slightly different smelly mission to draw in flies.
Alternatively, plants such as grasses that use airborne pollination or others that focus on birds doing the job, often have little or no fragrance.
Astonishingly, I discovered another reason for scentless plants. In the highly competitive world of rose breeding, mostly with the cut flower market in mind, the strong focus on visual impact and lasting form has seen the scent gene simply fall by the wayside. I think we can all agree a scentless rose feels like a travesty.
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