FRAGRANCE AND AROMA in Your Gardens
EVERYONE ACKNOWLEDGES the importance of fragrance in a garden, but few gardeners fully exploit this rich and rewarding resource. Scents are potent revivers of memories, the same smell evoking a different reflection in a cache person. Perfumed flowers are an obvious
The source of fragrance and herbs are family. iar favorites but with a little gardening experience you can create a much wider range of sensations to savor sun Evergreen shrubs such as cherry laurel, holly and aucuba carry a mildly acrid aroma that goes with shady plantings.
Box has a sharp smell – enjoyed by some, loathed by others – while walnut leaves smell spicy, Emerging poplar foliage has a hint of honey or musk, and on a hot day, eucalyptus produces a marvellous aroma, redolent of the tropics Certain plants, such as the cak-leaf pelargonium, have foliage so pungent that it overpowers the delicate scent of the flowers. A woodland planting where wild garlic predominates is unmistakable but not at all unpleasant, even in mid Summer when the garlic leaves are beginning to die down.
There are also quirky plants that are fun to grow for their unique aroma. If you have a large enough conservatory, grow the tender senna plant (Cassia didymobotrya), whose dark brown buds at the end of the flower spikes smell just like peanut butter. It is one of many flowers with a smell of food. In warm rain, sweetbriar foliage has the fragrance of ripe apples while the red-flowered Salvia rutilans has foliage that, when bruised, smells so strongly of pineapple that it makes your mouth water.
FRAGRANCE THROUGH THE YEAR
Even when you are planting chiefly for fragrance, do not forget that the overall aim in any garden is to delight all the senses. Sight and sound are as important here as anywhere, so careful planning is needed to create a garden that weaves these elements together – and not just for high summer but for the whole year.
Among the hundreds of beautiful and scented plants available there is some- thing for every month, every week of the year, from winter-flowering shrubs such as witch hazel, to summer’s sweet peas and Madonna lilies. It is always possible to have a flowering plant to provide fragrance either where it grows, or once it is picked |and brought indoors.
WINTER AND SPRING SCENT
FRAGRANCE AND AROMA
Most gardens have room for only two large shrubs or small trees. Choose one that bears scented blooms at a time when herbaceous plants are resting, such as Viburnum x bodnantense with pink winter flowers, or the equally fragrant white ferrari.
The intensely perfumed Chinonanthus praecox and the untidy winter honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantis- sina) are good alternatives, For spring, plant the evergreen Osmanthus delavayi, whose small white blooms are richly perfumed.
The ever- green Daphne laureola, one of our most enchanting native shrubs, will surprise vou in March, when its small green flowers exude a pervasive scent during mild afternoons. Strew the ground beneath the shrubs with a selection of violets, such as the vigorous Viola odorata Admiral Avellan’ and the pink-flowered Coeur d’Alsace’.
SUMMER PERFUME
If you have the space, a philadelphus provides waves of orange scent in early Summer, while a repeat-flowering rose such as Roseraie de l’Hay or Fragrant Cloud’ would be perfect for later.
Foliage makes a valuable foil for fiowering fragrant plants, and if it is aromatic as well as decorative, so much the better. Rosemary and thyme meet both these requirements and mints, despite being rather invasive, excel in their aroma – especially the dark eau-de-cologne mint (Mentha x piperita citrata).
Lavenders keep their aromatic silver- gray leaves all through the year and make lovely companions for garden pinks. Mix old and modern pinks for flowers and scent. Old-fashioned varieties, such as Dianthus Dad’s Favorite’ or ‘Sops in Wine, have a tang of cloves but tend to have only one flush of flowers, whereas modern border pinks – such as Doris’ – are sweeter but less clove-like, and stay in flower for much longer.
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Some peonies have a distinctive sweet smell, especially strong in the variety ‘Sarah Bernhardt’, while lupins have a spicy undertone. For late in the season plant the herbaceous Clematis heracleifo- ia whose small. pale blue flowers have a fresh narcissus like scent. second leaf pelargoniums and verbenas can be put out for summer, but neck overwintering indoors; there you cạn pinch the leaves to release their pert me whenever you wish.
Among annuals, little can match for nerongh and sweenesa the fragrance of stocks and white nicotianas, which both release their scent in the evening. Ben sharply odorous plants such as pot marigolds or tagetes enrich the general fragrance with their pungent aromas.
Bulbs for a scented border must include jonquils or pheasant’ eye narcissus for late spring and species lilies for summer. Lilium regale, L candidum and L speciosum have outstanding beauty and a perfume that far surpasses that of hybrid lilies. In contrast to such sweet- ness, a few species of allium add an arresting scent. In autumn, a bulb usually sold as Acidanthera murielae (but more correctly known as Gladiolus callianthus Murieliae’) has a soft, clean fragrance.
CREATING A FRAGRANT BOWER
A bower is a bewitching, romantic spot – a seat for two under a canopy of fragrant climbers. The climbing rose New Dawn is perfect for mid-year freshness of per- fume, and white jasmine for late summer fragrance. In warm, sheltered gardens, where frost is a rarity, try the jasmine-like Trachelospermum jasminoides, which has evergreen foliage and delicious scent from its cream summer flowers.
In most of Britain, however, honey- suckles are more dependable flowers to grow over bowers, and of these Lonicera japonica ‘Halliana’ is the longest blooming. From mid June to late November, the sharply scented blossom just keeps coming. Other fine honeysuckles include the earliest- Lonicera periclymenum Belgica’ or ‘Early Dutch’, whose red, tubular flowers open to reveal a yellow center – and , p. Graham Thomas’, whose lemon blooms fade elegantly to a deep shade of parchment.
A stronger-colored rose than the shell-pink ‘New Dawn’ is needed to complement the honeysuckles. Grow the thornless climbing Bourbon Zéphirine Drouhin’, which is vigorous with a succession of fragrant, deep-pink flowers. At your feet, you can grow chamomile, lemon thyme or even coriander.
The sharply citrus tang of its foliage gives a focus to all that sweetness, and the dusky pinkish white, lacy flowers are extremely pretty. Place your bower in a bright spot, for the sun will then bring on the flowers of the climbers while the overhung seat is screened and cool. Stand a container or two of heliotrope or lemon verbena at the entrance to the bower in early summer, and replace it with a pot of lilies later.
AROMATIC RECIPES POR SUNNY CORNIRS
The favorite part of your garden is often the sheltered nook that traps most sunshine and where you take a stroll during a moment of leisure. Make it an extra source of pleasure by putting two or three well-chosen scented plants there. Herbs are ideal for sun traps, Many of them are natives of hot, dry regions and give their best when these conditions are re-created for them, Traditionally herbs were utility plants, grown for their culinary and medicinal value but many have a discreet beauty.
most herbs are aromatic rather than fragrant: their smell, and indeed flavor, is in the leaves, “This is a bonus since the smell is not limited to flowering time but is much longer lived, waiting to be re- leased by anyone brushing against or crushing the leaves,
Wild thyme is lovely for bright carpets of color – in pink, purple and white and is gently aromatic, especially in late spring. Its young foliage adds zest to the delicate fragrance of cowslip flowers. In summer, place pots of Madonna lilies, with their clean perfume, among sage, tarragon, wormwood (Artemisia ab- sinthium), lad’s love (A. abrotanum) and rocket carries strongly on still evening air. The flowers are in a range of delicate colors, from white through palest laver- der to mauve and in twilight the pale hues show up well.
The flowers make a pretty combination with a tall, purple fennel behind and round-leaved apple-mint pushing its way among them. For an altogether boulder combination mix the vivid greens of basil and crisply curled parsley with the bright golds and scarlets of a non-trailing nasturtium.
PLANTING FOR SCENT AT DOORS AND WINDOWS
Seize every opportunity to place fragrant plants near the house. It is easy to concentrate on appearance when dressing up a doorway, but there is an added de- light in garden scent wafting through a door or window. Wherever there is a window that is open in mild weather, plant a scented climber outside. All the favorite climbers – roses, honeysuckle, jasmine, clematis – work well for door or window framing. To those you can add certain wall shrubs.
Train winter sweet (Chimon- anthus praecox) on a south or west-facing wall, where summer sun can ripen the twigs to ensure good flowering the next winter. Wisteria has a certain fragrance, and the Japanese apricot (Prunus mte) on a warm, sheltered wall will sometimes release its gentle almond scent 2s eariy 2s February To receive the summer medi- ocrity of these shrubs, use their branches as supports for Sweet pcas, especially the strongly fragrant Lathyrus odoratscs Painted Lady.
Even routine summer bedding pro- vides plenty of opportunity for fragrance at the door or under a window Hekotrope has a rich, almost cloying scent and brooding purple flowers that look well dotted among a formal planting When you make a bed of pelargoni- Lums, add a few scented-leaf kinds. There are many to choose from besides lemon- scented Pelargonium Graveolens’. Try the black-and-green-leaved Chocolate Mint’ and the musky oak-leaved P quercifolium. and do not overlook the most aromatic of them all.
SUMMARY
At the kitchen door grow something Useful as well as fragrant. A big pot of cau de cologne mint, pineapple sage, or even something as pungent as chives, presents opportunities for pinching and sniffing. Keep a steady run of coriander seedlings germinating indoors through the winter months. 2s well 2s having fresh herbs to use. you enjoy their sharp fragrance every time you brush past them.
