It would be nice to have a garden with lots of fragrance. There is lots to eat and lots to look at, and I would like to add more to smell. Growing so far- Wild mint - Maybe it's spearmint. It's nice pulling off sprigs and smelling them. Rosemary - probably my most favorite. ditto on pulling off sprigs and smelling them. Sometimes I cook with it. Lilies - Oriental and Orienpet. They don't live long here. Something eats the bulbs underground. They last longer in containers but need closer care then. Oregano - also honeybees love the flowers. Milkweed - Asclepius syriaca is very fragrant but aggressive and weedy. Bees love them. They are not native here and I don't want to cause an invasive situation so I might not grow them any more. Lilacs although most of them don's seem very fragrant. Thyme - Growing some more thyme seeds. It's so small, I tend to forget about it. Four O'clocks - I think their scent is faint. I've grown them for years, but don't recall a lot about the fragrance. Onion Flowers - It seems odd, but if one plants onion bulbs, they bloom with very nice globes of white, fragrant flowers. Bees love those, too. I want to save seeds for the next year, so I let a few bloom. They are biennial, needing a second year from seed to bloom. New ones - This year I'm starting carnation seeds. I have a vague memory of growing some before but I don't recall much about them or how well they do here. Most of the on line sources are Chabaud's Mix or Picotee and they both say fragrant. Described as deer resistant but...? Sweet-peas - never grew them before. Don't know what to expect. Also described as deer resistant but...? I looked for brugmansia seeds without success. There were some listed but they turned out to be UK. I won't buy off Amazon because who knows if they are real. I saw some with a description that sounded like a poor translation and I suspect they were Chinese sourced. I don't trust that. If the pandemic lets up and I get a 4th shot, I'll check nurseries for oriental lilies and maybe a brugmansia. It's interesting, I read that lindens (lime in UK?) have fragrant blooms. Mine are covered with bees when blooming but I don't smell them. Tilia cordata. I have fruit trees, apples have scent but not strong. Pears have scent but I think they are kind of stinky. Buddleias are nice but most types are illegal in the Pacific NW. Are stocks worth it? Easy to grow? How about heliotrope? I can's grow tuberoses - they need warmer, I guess. Sweet alyssum is sweet stew1 but so tiny, I can't get close to them any more. I'm not sure nicotinia will thrive in my cool climate, either,
You have a good selection there Daniel can lavender grow in Washington USA? that's very fragrant. I grow a lot of roses and they're also fragrant. I can understand why it's illegal to grow budlieas they can grow anywhere, even in walls. Here's a video on how to grow sweet peas
Let's see if my memory from work is any good.... Philadelphus (mock orange) shrub, Viburnum bodnantense dawn -shrub, Lonicera, americana, halliana, Graham Thomas, (climbing honeysuckle) Sarcococca (winter scent) Eleagnus ebbingeii (winter scent) Viburnum burkwoodii (probably the best scented viburnum) Just read Eileen's post, and totally agree with night scented stocks. I usually grow those in with Virginia stocks, they look better. The night scented have the perfume, and the virginias pretty them up a bit. Winter is a good time to plant Lilies, and they need to go in deeper for colder weather. Oh dear, I shouldn't ramble on ...
Check on Gardenia for your area ! Its a flowering shrub but can be pruned to keep it small ! They have a lovely scent !
Thanks for the nice comments. I'll keep watching for more. Scent is a nice part of garden experience. We do have an area with lavender and rosemary. And sage. It was meant to be sort of wild but now is kind of weedy. I could try taking cuttings from there. Deer never touch those and they are very dry tolerant. Win win win. I think I will put in an order for sweet-pea and stocks seeds, with an eye to fragrance in the description. I forgot scented leaf geraniums. Those are great and also dry tolerant and deer resistant but I don't see seeds for those. Gardenias are nice but they always die in my hands! Not sure about Lonicera - might be illegal too. They do have very nice fragrance. We have a mock orange, Deer love eating it. It is protected. I think it's almost tall enough to remove the fencing soon.
Interesting what you say about Lonicera Daniel, and I know some varieties can become rampant, but to my knowledge none are banned in the UK. I also note the situation regarding banned Buddleia. I believe the mauve variety here that seeds very freely and took over the old bomb sites after the war here should be banned as it grows like weed all over the place. We are always digging it out. Some of the cultivars we grew at the nursery however do not seed, and are propagated vegetally. Two favourite varieties are Royal Red and Black Knight. There is a lovely white one too, but I can't remember it's name.
Funnily enough, I have just been reading an article about deer and Marigolds, and it seems they are one of the very best deterrents as the deer cannot put up with their scent. These are also lovely bright happy jobs which are ultra easy to grow and also repel other garden pests. If scattered freely around the circumference of a deer plagued garden it seems from my reading that the area could well become deer free .......woo hoo most certainly better than the alternative which is, apparently, rotten eggs!!
Daniel, I so very much agree with you standpoint on this thread. Our garden is divided into two distinct areas—veggie and flowers. My choice of flowers are primarily bee/pollinator- oriented. I like to choose things which have either flower fragrance or foliage fragrance for myself. It becomes so intense that folks come from downwind of us to see where the smell is coming from. I tell my Bride that she perfumes my life, but she retorts, “Yeah, but not as much as your flowers”! Chuckle. I have to say, when I saw the title of your thread, that it reminded me of a travel book that I read years ago written by Sir Richard Burton, The Perfumed Garden I think it was called. so you can imagine my eyebrows went up there for a moment.
I remember back in 1964 being at a London railway station en route to Australia (the ship, the Fairstar's maiden journey) I grabbed the book The Perfumed Garden at a stand there with little time to spare thinking it was a horticultural book. I left it on the train!
White profusion is correct Logan, and I believe it is one of the cultivars thought to be at least 98% sterile. As long as it is not grown close to the invasive varieties, which of course will breed with it I don't know if it's illegal to plant these sterile varieties in the USA ?? It is a shame if so, as butterflies and bees love them.
@Tetters do you know that they couldn't grow blackcurrants in the USA? Something to do with white blister rust that threatened the wood industry, but it was lifted in 1966 but it's still has a local ban on it. Many people haven't tasted one.
I had no idea at all about this @Logan How many of our American friends don't grow blackcurrants then? Do you grow redcurrants in the USA?
I've just googled it, also redcurrants and gooseberries, it was lifted but still not grown, the local states didn't lift it.
