Fragrant Plants and Flowers
No garden should be without a selection of plants selected for their fragrance and flowers to both enhance and add variety. You can choose annuals (e.g.hyacinths, stocks) or perennials. Roses are an obvious choice, but they aren’t the only ones to consider…. says me who always chooses roses first!
For variation in foliage, perfume, shape, texture, flowers and colors, there are many excellent shrubs and bushes that make good companions to roses and cottage flowers. For example, azaleas and rhododendrons are excellent flowering plants for winter through to spring – giving color when many others are dormant or which are summer flowering.
Gardenias add marvellous perfumes, as do climbers like jasmine and wisteria. So when planning your garden, allow for perfumed and flowering plants. Even if you only have a small balcony or courtyard – many will thrive in pots – azaleas, roses, gardenias, hydrangeas and so on all can do well. You just have to feed and water them more often.
Mix them up for visual pleasure. For example, plant a couple of azaleas next to an hydrangea, then a gardenia, then back to an azalea – they all like the same soil, can thrive in partial shade and have hugely different foliage and flowering times – so you don’t get a garden bed that is only green foliage and bereft of color.
Wisteria is probably one of the best fragrant flowering climbers there is – it can be used over an arch, across the entry porch, along a fence or on an arbor. The best part is that it has two flowering seasons. Clematis is another really good flowering climber – and it can cover a lot of eyesores like the old shed at the back, or an ugly fence!
Bougainvillea is a great and colorful climber and its thorns are as good as barbed wire if you want fence security! Lavender and Rosemary are other excellent plants for fragrance and flowers – with side benefits of course – no roast lamb can do with out rosemary! They are also nice because the foliage is the source of perfume. Additional suggestions:
o hibiscus
o lilacs
o Dwarf versions of dogwoods
o Flowering hedges (gardenias can make beautiful hedges, as will as rosemary and lavender)
Consult your local nursery for plants for fragrance and flowers that are suitable for your area. Temperate zones have the best selection, as they can often grow plants from other zones quite well – e.g. many tropical plants. All these plants require some maintenance, but nothing onerous. Make it a goal to always plant for fragrance and flowers
