Favorite Fragrant Plants

What's your favorite?? Fragrance is definitely a subjective thing. I like Oriental Lily but it can quickly become overpowering to me. I love Honeysuckle, Jasmine, Gardenia, Viburnum and Hosta, certain Roses and Daylilies.

Also, what popular fragrant plants don't you like?? I have found that many plants described as fragrant actually stink! 'Fragrant' really means it has a detectable fragrance - not necessarily a nice one. I have Viburnum 'Blue Muffin' - a popular one due to its electric blue berries that you might see for a microsecond before the birds devour them. The flowers literally smell like rotting fish! Similarly, 'fragrant' Winter King Hawthorn does not smell very good at all.

Share your likes, dislikes and experiences. Also, what fragrant plants are on your list but don't yet have??

I can't smell very well Victor. I can smell lilacs and monarda. I have others that are supposed to be fragrant, but not to me.

I just love mexican oregeno, lavender and the scented geraniums. It is really hard to pick favorites, as I pretty much love most of them. But these have scented leaves so you can enjoy them year 'round. :^)

Al, I nominate you for next host of Dirty Jobs. You'll have a clear advantage. Tetley, those are all good ones too. I'll add Sweet Woodruff and Hay Scented Fern.

Like you Victor, i love the smell of Oriental Lilies....but only 1 in the house as more than that does become overpowering! Lilacs are another favorite, they bring back fond memories. As a kid there was a 12ft. bush by our kitchen window, the entire house smelled of lilacs. I like Lily of the Valley too but that is another one that can be overpowering. I also love certain Iris's, I have one that has a "clean fresh" grape smell to it. I cut 4 or 5 and stuck them in a vase in front of an open window.....mmmmm it was wonderful!

Yes - I left out Lilac. Definitely one of my favorites! And citrus.

spice viburnam

Al, with proper hygein, you could smell OK.

I agree that it's hard to pick a favorite. I have these and love the scents: honeysuckle, lavender, lilac, lily of the valley, roses, hosta So Sweet, Casablanca lilies. I'd like to have a lemon tree.

I recommend some type of Citrus. It's great to have it indoors in Winter and have it blooming!

I LOVE wallflowers - and no one seems to have heard of them. They smell exquisite - an early flowering perennial often planted with tulips.

Also love oriental lilies, roses - especially Abramhan Darby (don't have one - wish I did). Lavender, pinks, carnations (I have a fragrance garden) Monardia, catmint (I have Blue Wonder - the scent in amazing!) Garden phlox.

Lilacs are my favorite, I think. Roses. We just had a bouquet in the house and I kept them long after they didn't look good because they still smelled so nice. Finally I put the petals in a bowl and ditched the rest.

Some orchids. I had one with a wonderful cinnamon scent.

Loretta, I'd like to get a lemon tree, too. I'm thinking of a Meyer lemon for the sunroom. What do you have Victor?

edit to add: just read Seandor's post...have to add carnations

This message was edited Jun 18, 2007 9:51 AM

Carnation are wonderful, forgot to add that to the list. This one smells wonderful and has been blooming ever since DH bought it for me a month ago.

I'd give first place to Oriental lilies, then lilacs, roses, monarda, lily of the valley, lemon thyme, rosemary, honeysuckle.

I don't like the "fragrance" of Brugmansia at all!

Edited to add: Hosta Plantaginea - so very fragrant and not overwhelming at all.

This message was edited Jun 18, 2007 5:30 PM

Peonies, peonies, peonies.

There are other fragrances that I like, of course - most mentioned above. But for me, peonies are the most evocative of some moment in a perfect past that I can't seem to recall.

By the way, I can't seem to smell nicotiana. This year I planted some from Graceful Gardens, and they're growing like mad - huge leaves promising, I hope, lots of flowers. They're planted around our pergola where we eat in the evenings. If I can't smell these, I'm giving up on the things!

Julie

Honeysuckle, hyacinth, lilac, roses, lily of the valley are the biggies for me....but I also like the smell of sweet alyssum, petunias, and fresh cut grass as well because they are so summer-y. Tamara

Pirl, I'm with you on Brugs! After hearing so much raving about it, I have to say I was disappointed. Too sweet or something.

Julie, it's been very faint for me too - and only in the evening. I like your reason for the Peony preference. Fragrances are strong memory triggers - even of other lives we've led!

Tamara - all nice ones. I put Hyacinth in the Oriental Lily category for me - nice but can be too overpowering.

I love the hyacinths, too. It's so nice to enter the kitchen when I have a vase of them on the table.

Once the sun starts to go down the Brugs stink. Mine now reside at the dump.

I want to plant some white hyacinth in the front of the house. Are they difficult to grow?

No but they are not reliable returners for me. I'll get half the flower coming back. They look weirder each year. They're great for forcing if you like the fragrance. Just a bit too powerful for me for indoors.

Some do better than others. I have no idea why or I wouldn't have some of each.

julie, I am with you peony are wonderful! I also think my nose is not what it used to be but some of my favorite include lily of the valley , lilac, broom hosta aphrodite (sp) pansies! oh I have an cone flower called mango meadow brite that has a sweet honey smell that is just wonderful . I don't like the smell of SAGE I have a hard time even dead heading it yuck
laura
ps my hyacinth come back but they are never quite as good as the first year and peter out after a while like tulips

I just remembered petunias! and allisum
laura

Jan - just realized I did not answer you - sorry. I have a Mandarin Tangerine. Delicious! I can't wait to get more. A Lemon, a Lime and something else.

The something else is just wonderful, isn't it? One of my favorite plants.

I forgot to mention Mock Orange.....the scent just came in through the kitchen window and it's heavenly!!

Pirl, You are something else!

Dave - you're confusing Victor with me.

Yes, Mock Orange is divine. Is Bridal Wreath another fragrant one I recall from my mentor's garden?

You used to grow mentors?

Another dedicated bed!!

You two guys are impossible but that's what I enjoy about you both.

The real PIRL didn't have any dedicated gardens but it was she who was so dedicated to them. I'm so relieved not to have lived there (next to the her garden between both of our homes) when the bulldozers came and destroyed everything to put up one of those monster ego homes.

Clematis Armandii fills the whole garden and the house with a wonderful scent....it has my vote

Foggy

Ooh - was not aware of that one. I'll check it out. Thanks Foggy.

Bridal wreath spirea has a scent?

My neighbor's Bridal wreath did but hers was a very old variety since it was in full bloom in 1968 and "old" by that time. It's been bred out of many new plants.

I can't believe I forgot Acidanthera! Wonderful fragrance.

Not familiar with that one.

Didn't know what Acidanthera was either. I had to look it up

http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/756/

Home Depot sells them in March. About 30 little bulbs for around $6.00. Dutch Gardens has them, too. I put them in pots and bring the pots in for winter.

When I lived in Arizona, we had a Jasmine vine outside our door which had a wonderful aroma. Now in CT, my best smell producers are the spring blooms of Viburnum carlesii. I've also planted thyme near a walkway and when I mow it, the herbal smell makes me smile.

Julie, maybe the reason you can't smell nicotiana is that you have a variety where the scent has been hybridized out in a search for bigger flowers. Usually the taller common varieties have a better nose (as an oenophile might say).

Aren't wine experts oenophiles?

Is your V. carlesii the light pink fragrant one? How tall does it get?

All wine experts should be oenophiles, but not all oenophiles are wine experts.