Garden Centre

Sunday, May 18, 2008

And the scented garden is smelling lovely!

I love all plants, but scented plants in particular. Himself often says I ‘see’ the garden through my nose, which sounds a bit Kenneth Williams, but I know what he means!

Because I adore most scents, I grow Old English roses, rather than the less scented modern ones, wallflowers, thyme, night-scented stock, lavender, lily of the valley, scented geraniums, scented rushes, sweet peas, mahonia … and that’s just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

If you want a scented garden, here are some tips:

Try provide shelter from the wind as it will otherwise blow away all the glorious fragrances – this is a real problem for me in windy Sussex, so I plant my scented darlings in wind-free corners. If you don’t suffer from breezy weather, you can plant in raised beds which raises the wonderful fragrance higher into the air for you to enjoy.
Plant fragrant things like thyme, lavender and rosemary along paths or in cracks in paving so that they will get brushed or bruised as you pass, releasing their fragrance.
Latin names containing odoratus, citriodorus, fragrantis, moschatus or suavis, all mean sweet smelling, so plants with those names will tend to be fragrant.

Labels: scented garden, scented plants

The All Seasons Gardener at 7:45 AM

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