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.
Euphorbia Robbiae with Hyacinth ‘Blue Jacket’
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.
Pittosporum tennuifolium flowers
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.
Image http://www.british-wild-flowers.co.uk John Crellin
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!
Out of my shed 