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Favorite lavenders and other strongly scented plants

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  • ElusiveElusive Posts: 992

    Dont forget scented leaf plants such as Pelargoniums, these are unbeatable for fragrance and you dont have to wait for flowers.

    Oriental Lilies are another favourite fragrance of mine.

     

  • Dave MorganDave Morgan Posts: 3,123

    Phlox, winter honeysuckle,  honeysuckle and roses especially the climbers near windows work well. I have both the latter outside my back door and in the evening when it's warm the air is filled with scent. Mixed borders with scented plants, lavender and herbs you can brush past or walk on. It can be intoxicating when conditions are right. Some of the best roses are David Austin roses, heavily scented and plentiful flowers.

  • cathy43cathy43 Posts: 373

    Just to add another one to the mix, how about dianthus (pinks) most have a lovely fragrance but personally the strongest I have found is Miss Simpkins, its an older one, white and the perfume is astonishing from such a small plant

  • Dave MorganDave Morgan Posts: 3,123

    How did I forget the pinks? I pick them almost daily for the house.

  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,384

    I wouldn't be without a few night scented stock (Matthiola bicornis aka longipetala.)  Not a 'looker' but the scent is simply magnificent and you only need a few dotted around the garden.

    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117

    Dianthus is always a favourite  for me and sweet peas are hard to beat. image

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • ButtercupdaysButtercupdays Posts: 4,546

    Think the flowers have been fairly well covered before I found this thread, but  one that no-one has mentioned is petunias. They aren't all scented and it is hard to tell which ones as it is not used as a selling point, but we grew some F2 petunias(cheap  and flowered their socks off) and were mystified to find the source of the wonderful perfume filling the air until we realised it was them.

    For foliage to rub as you walk round the garden I love rosemary and Lad's love (Artemisia abrotanum). Both are shrubby plants that fit easily into borders and set off other more flowery things nicely. Some of the more tender shrubby salvias have scented foliage too. 'Hot lips' is fairly hardy, some of the others less so, but they grow fast and are dead easy to grow from cuttings, so if you have a spare windowsill to overwinter those they are a good option. The flowers are lovely too - I have 'African Skies', 'Amistad' and 'Neon' - amazing!.

  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340

    Rose Gertrude Jekyll - an amazing spicy scent. I have some in the front garden and they fill the air with their scent. It has been chosen to be grown in the UK to produce essential oil of rose for the first time in a few hundred years.

    Trachelospermum jasminoides - I have one of these growing on a fence below my bedroom, the scent on a warm summers evening is lovely, but can be a bit overpowering.

    I have petunias in tubs and in the borders - many of these also have good strong perfume.

    Lavender - wouldn't be without it. Lots of herbs to brush-by and get a blast of the med.


    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • Evening Primrose is also worth growing and agree that Night Phlox and Night Scented Stock are priceless in terms of scent.

    Ordinary Phlox (the tall kind) there are loads of varieties and 10 week Stock are also very easy to grow and provide wonderful scent. 

    I would'nt be without some Oriental and Regal Lilies as well, amazing scent. You have plenty there to keep you going.

  • Katherine WKatherine W Posts: 410

    Do not - DO NOT - miss Zaluzyanskya capensis. it's an annual, opens in the evening, does not waft, you got to put your nose in it, but once you do you'll be blown over.

    For scented foliage (which lasts longer than most flowers, and wafts around marvellously if you put it close to a path, where you brush it in passing), there's all the usual herbs, mints etc, plus all the scented pelargoniums (although there's many duds), but i'd never be without Aloysia triphylla (lemon verbena), Salvia elegans (pineapple sage) and Tagetes lemmonni. These are all border line hardy; the roots can take some frost and spring back to life in April, but all in all they do better in a sheletered spot or cold greenhouse. But they are worth all the trouble.

    Also the "Blue Eyes" rose is a favourite with us.

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