I’ve just spent the morning working in a client’s garden that was packed full of Sarcococcas (Christmas or sweet box). The perfume was intoxicating, mesmerizing even, and it just got me thinking about how important scent is in a garden.
Plants with a powerful winter scent jump to mind easily,
such as the delicious Viburham bodnantense ‘Dawn’ (above),
the subltle perfume of Daphne Bholua (above),
and the delicate aroma of Mahonia japonica (above), with a scent akin to that of Lily of the Valley,
but as the year progresses, I find myself being seduced into using colours, form and texture for planting plans,
with scent really taking a back seat. So while sitting on a bus, I gave myself the challenge of calling to mind flowers and shrubs that provide fragrance for the garden for the rest of the year.
In March and April I recalled the heady scent of Hyacinths really knocking my socks off,
and Clematis armandii delicately perfuming the air , especially on warm sunny days in March and April. Oh, and the delicious honey scented Euphorbia mellifera.
The flowers of Pittosporum tennuifolium are so tiny and dark that you barely notice them , but last April, the sweet scent caught me unawares as I passed by this wonderful (and very useful) evergreen shrub whilst I worked away in my own garden. Will grow happily in semi-shade too.
May did fox me for a while, but Lily of the Valley has to be one of my all time favourite scents, and how could I forget Wisteria (call myself a gardener!).
The fresh light scent of the diminutive lilac, Syringa meyeri ‘Palabin’ (slowly growing to 1.5m x 1.5m) is also a great addition to any garden.
For June, July and August, fragrant choices abound from Roses (which flowered well in to December last year too!), Lillies, mock orange-Phildelphus and star Jasmin-Trachelspermum jasminoides. But I started to struggle as I mentally planned ahead for the autumn months.
Roses will still be flowering in September, and then I remembered the delicious scent and waving wands of Actaea Simplex (aka Cimifuga atropurpurea) as I entered into the magical Jardin Plume last year. These should flower well into October too.
And taking us through November and December is the wonderful shrub Camellia sesanqua, a joyous surprise, both for its loud scent and riotous colour (and also happy in semi-shade), as autumn turns into winter and the rest of garden looks as if it’s shut up shop for the year.
Another evergreen and beautifully architectural largish shrub (or small tree) is Eriobotrya japonica, also known as a Loquat. More subdued in colour and perfume than the above Camellia, its scent is a real treat when least expected on a frosty morning in November and well into December.
Then I thought I’d start all over again with all year round colour, then all year round structure and this brought me back to the Sarcococcas, planted where I was working both as evergreen arching shrubs (eventually growing to about 4-5ft, 120-150cm) and more formal hedging. With its small glossy dark green leaves, the ability to grow in shady parts of the garden (even dry shade in mine) and the added benefit of its fragrant perfume, it’s a great structural plant for any garden and one I wouldn’t be without in my own!
A bit olfactorily challenged myself (despite the size of my nose), though I love the way smells in a garden can immediately stir memories – for me the perfume of an Albertine rose takes me back to my childhood when I used to deadhead one that cascaded over the back of my parents’ house. I suppose fragrance in a garden is a way of making powerful memories for the future.
I too love the way smells can transport you back to childhood. For me it’s the scent of cistus leaves which instantly puts me in Auntie May’s cottage garden too many decades ago.
Nicolette-Roses take me back to childhood too. Haven’t planted nearly enough in my garden, but this year all has been rectified with 2 new small climbers for the front garden, so that I can smell them each tinme I leave the house and again when I come back home.
Sue-shamed to say that I don’t know what a cistus leaf smells like, but have planted some last autum in a client’s garden (for their gorgeous flowers), and will make sure I squeeze a leaf next time I’m working there. Many thanks too for link on your last post. Much appreciated.
Philip,( my husband) and I always enjoy reading your blog Naomi.
At Great Dixter we’ve got Sarcococca confusa and S. ruscifolia flowering in the nursery.Such a beautiful scent from such unassuming plants.
Wishing you A Happy New Year and happy gardening for the new season and will follow your blogs with interest.
Kathleen
Hi Kathleen, Happy New Year! Lovely to hear from you and so pleased to hear you’re enjoying my blog. Looking forward to volunteering again at Great Dixter in the not-too-distant future-always a most inspiring experience. Very best wishes Naomi x
Naomi. As always love reading your blog. This one has inspired me to create a new lecture on Scented plants! But what should be the title?
Scent in the Garden, The Scented Garden Throughout The Year, or Scented Plants for your Garden? Answers on a postcard to http://www.babicz.com !
Seriously I really need a catchy tag line! Help! Andrew x
Hi Andrew, delighted to have inspired you! How about ‘The sweet smell of success’-planting your garden for year round scent. N
p.s. Any more scent ideas for Oct,Nov Dec?
Scents for Winter:- Osmanthus delevayii, Iris unguicularis “Walter Butt”, Hammamelis (Witch Hazel) or how about Daphne bhoulia? Andrew
p.s. Andrew, how about ‘Common scents gardening’!
Hi Naomi,
I enjoy your blog but especially this post. I agree as the garden really gets going, scent seems to take a back seat to color, texture and form. Funny, I had never thought of it before. I have enjoyed the scent of several of the plants you mention but do not live in as mild a climate so I can’t think of anything that has scent in zone 6, USDA for December and January. Oh, and how I would love to volunteer at Great Dixter! Too cool!
Hi Andrea, intrigued to know what sort of temperatures you have in December and January in Boise, Idaho! And yes, volunteering is at Great Dixter is wonderful. The gardens are forever changing and developing and the team of gardeners who work there are very generous in sharing their knowledge and a joy to work with. V.cool indeed!
Scent is so important to me. I was thinking a while ago about how there seems to be a lack of plants in the late summer/autumn that are scented. I’ve never smelt Actaea so will have to keep my eyes out for this on garden visits this year. Thanks for the tip.
Hi Wellywoman. I’d seen Actaea earlier in the year at Piet Oudolf’s installation in Hyde Park, but it wasn’t until I saw (and smelled) them again at Jardin Plume that I realised what a gorgeous scent they had. Hope you spy some on your travels.V.best Naomi
I wanted to let you know your post was
so beautiful that it is featured on
WebGarden today. Our readers enjoy
getting ideas and inspiration. I hope
many will follow your blog after visiting.
Thanks for sharing your gardening talents!
~Brooke (CreativeCountryMom)
http://creativecountrymom.blogspot.com/
Here is the link to see your post….
http://www.facebook.com/pages/WebGarden/261885457648?ref=ts
Hi Brooke, thanks for your encoraging comments and posting my blog on Webgarden. Much appreciated. Love your Poppies and Hollyhocks, and your incredible view to the lake on your blog! V.best naomi
Lovely post, thank you! Cercidiphyllum japonicum (katsura tree) has an incredible fragrance in autumn – the turning leaves release an aroma that is reminiscent of burnt sugar, or some say cotton candy. It is available in a weeping form, as well. A great small tree with wonderful structure and spring, summer and fall interest.
Hi Sara and Jan-thanks for a really useful autumn scent idea. Know the tree well, but hadn’t thought about the scent! Although I love using herbaceous plants, I realise shrubs and trees provise great structure, colours, textures and scents and will be having a really good read of your blog for more loads more ideas. Thanks so much for your comment. V.best Naomi
Naomi – didn’t see this until now…the intricacies of the internet are sometimes beyond those of us that spend 95% of our time out of doors. What is so interesting to me about your comment is that even though you know the tree, you had not thought of the scent, which goes to show that we keep learning about even the plants that we know and use. You are far away from us but your London setting is more like our conditions than many places in the U.S. The difference is that you don’t want for rainfall…
We have not subscribed to a lot of blogs that are primarily concerned with gardening, as opposed to plant selection or design, but your interest in four-season gardening will keep us coming back to yours!
Cheers –
Sara (and Jan, the photographer)
Really interesting post, because I have actually never considered selecting a plant for its scent. We have masses of Lavender, Roses, Sages, Thyme, Marjoram, etc, but always chosen for their habit & colour. Only once can I recall, scent was important, but again its flowering habit, the primary reason for selection – the lovely winter sweet, or Chimonanthus Praecox. Though sadly, didn’t do too well. Will think about scent more from now on!
Hi Petra, just writing the post made me realise that I don’t think about scent as much as I could do when planning a garden. Thanks for mentioning all your herbs-hugely important for scent (and cooking) too. Chimonanthus Praecox is great to have on the list too and I love its small dangly almost transparent pale yellow flowers. I can imagine where to plant one of those right now!
Sweet box grows well in my southern US garden. I also have Wintersweet and a shrub called Sweet Breath of Spring, which is a bush honeysuckle. I love the way their scents surprise me–laying down patches at unexpected times, in odd places that aren’t always near the plant.
And yes, I pick many of my plants based on scent. My grandmother loved fragrant flowers. My garden reminds me of her and childhood–sticking my nose into flowers in old ladies gardens and drinking homemade lemonade
Interesting post.
Bush Honeysuckle and indeed any other honeysuckle should be on my list too. Thanks for the reminder Christine.
Your comment made me think of childhood visits to a great aunt and uncle, where I was always amazed at the scents in the garden and also the vast amount of butterflies floating around the flowers and shrubs. More scents and more planting for wildlife-or is that another post!
Lovely blog, good preview of some of the best evergreens around.
Thanks Chris!
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