The spiritual rewards of flowers

Once a summer garden is up and running it keeps giving. With a little planning the harvesting of vegetables and fruit will continue for weeks. There’s also the spiritual reward of relaxing in the presence of greenery and flowers.

My first and last outdoor actions of the day are tours of the garden with the captivating sound of a blackbird or song thrush, and the flower fragrances enhanced by morning dew or drifting on the evening air.

Flowers currently dominate our garden scene. Typical of this is the group of roses by the patio, chosen for their form and fragrance and in the company of gorgeous garden pinks. Whether you are walking past or dining alfresco in their presence, ‘Olivia Rose Austin,’ ‘Chandos Beauty,’ ‘Gabriel Oak’ and ‘Just Joey’ are a joy to behold.

There are such subtle differences in the scent emanating from each that it’s understandable top breeders enlist the help of perfumiers in describing the fragrance of newly created bloom.

There’s certainly no mistaking the chocolate fragrance of

Cosmos atrosan guinea blooms in the mixed border but seeing this plant safely through winter can be a challenge if it’s planted in a frost pocket.

The foliage of many plants need only the slightest touch to offer their contribution. The collection of herbs in our raised beds, one or more of which join every evening meal, have such a distinct individual scent they can be identified with the eyes closed.

Ina previous article I mentioned some plant leaf fragrances. Borage (cucumber), Alloysia (lemon), Rose eglanteria (ripe apple), Helichrysum serotinum (curry). On our recent RGS visit to Craster we purchased a delightful Salvia x Jamensis ‘Nachtvlinder’ from Gill and Dave’s plant stall. A worthy addition to the garden, it has blackcurrant-scented leaves!