Your most fragrant plants by ranking

Not heard of that...you'll have to tell us what you think!!

Okay, it's final. I smelled my nicotinias in the evening and I didn't smell anything. Either my sniffer is broken or my nicotinias don't work!

I'm gonna be "slightly" annoyed if mine don't end up with a scent. I believe you and I bought the same seeds and I distinctly recall them being advertised as being scented....grrrrr!! My 'Fragrant Cloud' Nicotiana self seeded and the one blooming now has that incredible evening scent

Let me know how yours go. Hopefully I have a defective sniffer and yours will smell glorious!

Might not get you far....but I'd (and I will if they don't) contact Parks about that. Scent was the only reason I purchased them....I have plenty of other things that are purple not like I needed the color...ya know? Would you like some seeds I have some I rec'd in trade from a generous DGer recently. These are fresh from this year.

I think it is too late for me to plant this year. We have already had 11 days of 100 degree weather. Everything here is pretty much going into "maintain" mode. I do appreciate the offer, though. I will contact Parks and let them know.
Annie

I'm so sorry hearing about this heat out there with no relief :( My Nicotiana (with waterings) blooms all summer - course we don't hit the over the 100 mark too often

It's over 100 here, also with heat index over 100 also. YUCK! No rain for over 2 weeks. I'm watering twice a day but things are still getting crunchy. :-( It's tooo hot to water in mid day.

I do have some hosta blooming, and my little dwarf gardenas are blooming ... but they're not just busting out this year since they're new.

I can't believe I missed this thread!
On the "I can't smell nicotianas" comment from Annie Jo. There are some plants that everybody raves about the fragrance, that I just cannot smell! Heliotropes for example. It's on someone's top 10 here. I have never, ever detected the slightest sent! Isn't that weird??? Same with petunias...zero fragrance for me! weird...

Only Petunias that I've found have the scent are those old fashioned dark purple ones...and recently some of the WAVE whites...but not all of them...literally I was going around sniffing blooms....imagine THAT sight!?!? LOL

I do that too! I just cannot walk by a rose and not smell!

At least I know my sniffer isn't totally out of whack! I can smell the heliotropes, but only sometimes and I have to get close. My petunias seem to be that way also, hit and miss with them. Nothing seems to be very fragrant right now - does the heat affect fragrance?

Sure does, and some are most fragrant in the evening, to attract those nocturnal pollinators.

Brugmansia, 4 O'clocks, Nicotiana, Datura, ummm I know theres more...
Caren

I have a Heliotrope "Marine". They are supposed to be the most fragrant of Heliotrope, but I am waiting on the flower. It is a slow grower.

I just read an article about some fragrant orchids in the "Dancing Ladies" variety. Some smell like vanilla or chocolate. Does anyone have thos and can testify??

I am surprised no one has mentioned Sarah Bernhardt peony. It is as fragrant or more so than Festiva Maxima in my yard.....

Ooh, wonderful lists! No wonder this thread has gone on for years!

I can only speak to the ones I've grown. Top of my list isn't a domestic vine (or bine). I can only describe it: very dark, arrow shaped leaf, blooms about this time of year, the flowers are pure white and bloom with a sort of umbrella shape all up and down the vine, and the perfume is thick, cloying, even, and totally overwhelming! It doesn't resemble any domesticated vine I know of, and I can only think it must be impossible to grow deliberately as the reason no one's tried to domesticate and propagate it. I wish I knew it's name...

Second on my list is Korean Spice viburnum. Most viburnums smell kinda funky to me, but this one is pure and pleasant and fills the yard with perfume when it blooms. It's a small tree now in my front yard. I'd like to get a few starts off it this year if possible.

Old fashioned lilac

another wild plant: Sweet Annie or sweet anise--the name varies with regions. Grows around edges of cornfields and looks like 5'7 foot tall arborvitae around sept-october. Med. green. Has a strong herbal smell resembling a perfumed pine smell. Men seem to hate it and amongst my friends we call it Man Bane because our husbands all universally hate it! it makes beautiful wreaths. There's so much resin in it it feels sticky to work with.

And number five...muguette? or lily of the valley? That's my top 5.

I love roses, but they aren't as overwhelming as I'd like them to be.

Melis

melis , is there any way you can post a picture of that number one choice ? maybe someone here can identify it , or post also in plant i.d. forum? if you dont have a camera , then maybe a friend does . there are a LOT of us that would thank you . sally

I'm curious whether anyone can ID your plant too. The people on DG amaze me with their knowledge.

My best smelling rose is probably 'Double Delight'. All of my roses are considered very fragrant but that one perfumes the middle of my yard. For second place, it's a tie between 'Fragrant Cloud' and 'Mister Lincoln'.

I have to add one more to my 'Most fragrant plant list'. This year I planted an OT lily called 'Shocking' and it's wonderful. Very strong, sweet fragrance that carries very well. I wish the blooms lasted longer but it was such a joy that it's well worth it. I can't wait until next year when they're bigger!

What's muguette? I'm curious and I can't find it in Plant Files.

sweet anise- - - florida anise , is it the same ? i have four of them , f . anise , and my dh doesn't comment on the fragrance . sally

It's probably "Muguet", same as convalaria majalis (sp?). Smells incredible!
Melis, from what you describe my wild guess would be moon vine? But pleeeease post a picture for us! : )

Well, last first: if by moon vine you mean the morning glory or some sort of evening primrose or even a datura, no it's not any of those. I will do my best to capture the wild green stinkus on film for you all, as soon as I sniff one out. It blooms same time as autumn clematis and that's out now. (BTW it smelled WAY more than the clematis, and my whole porch was covered with that at one time.)

Muguette is the French name for lilly of the valley. There's a classic perfume out there named 'Muguette' which is the same perfume as the lilly of the valley. A big favorite of mine.

Did I forget anything? Oh. Doubt the florida thing is the same as sweet annie. Unless your Florida annie is a six or seven foot tall weed? just did a little research and apparently the straight poop on sweet annie is that it's an annual native artemesia --that means its a relative of wormwood and dusty miller. It's a big family, artemesia! The right name is apparently artemesia annua, and some seem to consider it an herb. When I looked it up on google images, it was plain some people were indeed growing it in their herb gardens as a tame herb. I've only ever known it as a wild weed in SW Ohio, so I hope you'll forgive my ignorance. But I can certainly STRONGLY recommend it to you as a wonderful herb, a wonderful dried herb, and a wonderful way to chase the men out of the room when you want to talk about them!!!

O. Also, interestingly, the World Health Organisation appears to be studying artemesia annua as an antimalarial. Who knew? Here's a pic of a frond of A. annua or Sweet Annie. picture it seven foot tall and sticky.

Melis

your pic didn't enlarge , but mine is an evergreen , will get 6 -7 " tall with mature crisp , shiny leaves . it has a purple red bloom in the early summer .very slow growing . sally

well my camera picked this moment to fly to pieces. So all I can say is it's a vigorous vine, DARK green and very long and narrow arrow shaped with silvery veins. The flowers, when they come, are tiny white things with the general umbrel shape of a queen anne's lace, only not that wide an umbrel, and the flowers are bigger. And it's blooming about now. Next couple of weeks anyway. And the perfume is very full and cloyingly sweet.

I'm going to look around on the internet a bit to see if I can spot anything like it.

Melis

Does it look anything like this?

Sounds like Sweet Autumn Clematis to me http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/683/

The description sounds like my silver lace vine. I never detected a fragrance though.

Moby, *YES*! That's it. Erm, what IS it?--M

Viola, no it's not good old autumn clematis, though it blooms at exactly the same time, but it's *ten times stronger scented!* And rob, it's not silver lace either.
Look at Moby's photo.
That's it.
What is it?!
M

When I clicked viola's link to the sweet autumn clematis, you can see the vine I was telling you about growing right up amongst the clematis. The clematis leaves are the same on all of them, triple, and recurved, but in amongst the white flowers and tiny autumn clematis leaves you can see the big, dark green arrow-likke leaves growing right along with the clematis!

Just like mine used to do on our porch.

Melis

My flowers are all gone now except for a few spindly sprigs here and there. Are the flower clusters shaped like half a golf ball? Here are some pics http://aolsearcht11.search.aol.com/aol/image?query=Cynanchum%20laeve If that looks right then it's Cynanchum laeve, or sand vine ~ wonderful for Monarch butterflys!

This message was edited Aug 26, 2008 12:14 PM

don't we need a continuation of this thread ? sally

You have nailed it Moby, and now I have two new reasons to let it live in addition to it's the stinkiest (but in a good way) thing I've run across since back in '76 when the garbage man missed me two weeks in a row during a heat wave when I had three catfish carcasses in the can and the fumes ate the paint right off my siding (obviously *not* in a good way)!!! Namely: 1)that it is good for butterflies, and 2) it has a real name and I can dignify it with a little blue taggie thing, safe in the knowledge I can hold my head high, despizing shame, for I no longer love a *weed* but a valuable named plant that supports monarchs! and I can build it a little wood trellis and gently urge their little nodding heads and questing little green fingers up my home made tuteur, chucking their little chins and cooing to them an--

Can't wait another sec. I'm off!

Melis (in more ways than one, apparently.)

This message was edited Aug 26, 2008 12:26 PM

While this sand vine has it's positive attributes, not everyone appreciates them, so be a dear and pluck off the seed pods as they develop. The seeds are carried by the wind on darling little poofs of silk ~ letting them fly was a favorite pasttime as a child. I doubt others approved!

I put the green pods in a plastic bag tied shut so that they rot and then discard them, otherwise they will still ripen off the vine. Don't worry ~ your plant will come back from the root.

...being a dear as we speak.

Good girl. ;)

Hmmm. So interesting, Melis and Moby. I have not seen a sand vine around here, I don't think. I'm trying to attract more butterflies, so this is big news. Saying they grow among clematis, do you mean they like shade? We have lots of Virginia creeper and ivy here, but I've no clematis as yet. I'd go poking around for sand vine now if it were daylight.

I wouldn't ~ if you've got virginia creeper then you have enough trouble on your hands. If it weren't for the Monarch benefit I would do everything in my power to eradicate it. This vine can literally bind and smother plants if allowed to do so.

That's true. I was more sickly last year and missed what the creeper and English Ivy was doing to my front yard. I lost a $100. redbud, and have nearly lost a large mock orange and a korean spice viburnum was being threatened. I had to get on the ball removing it all.

What I meant was they all like the same kinds of conditions. If you have autumn clematis and/or virginia creeper in the yard, you might look in the same areas and see if you might also already have the sand vine growing along with it.

Melis

This message was edited Aug 29, 2008 11:38 AM