Scents and Sensibility

by Liz Smitten, Certified Master Gardener

Originally printed in Avalanche-Journal Spring Home & Garden Supplement, March 25, 2006

One of the most appealing aspects of gardening is the way it can engage all of our senses, and a gardener can focus on any of these sensual elements based on personal taste, or incorporate all of them with great success. It is possible for anyone, no matter how small their space, to have a sensory garden which is beautiful to look at, where we can hear the sounds of wind moving through ornamental grasses, feel the velvety texture of lamb’s ear or the silk of a rose petal, taste the peppery bite of a nasturtium blossom, and smell the spicy clove scent of a cheddar pink dianthus. But of the many gardens I have visited over the years, it is the gardens devoted to fragrance which stand out most clearly, and are most easily recalled from memory and brought to life by the wafting of the softest breeze.

The fragrance of plants, which is so complex that chemists have labored to classify it into different types which can be artificially created, remains elusive and beguiling, and perhaps that is what makes it so rewarding to the home gardener, for we have only the simple labor of choosing and planting and nurturing to obtain all the perfumes of Arabia in our own back yard. There are a myriad of plants to choose from – trees and shrubs, vines and groundcovers, annuals and perennials, those heavy or aromatic scents which attract butterflies and night moths, those which perfume our waking hours, and those whose fragrance is only released as evening falls and the sky is filled with stars.
Among the fragrant trees which grace this area, the magnolia is perhaps the one most often seen, but among small trees, the Texas mountain laurel, whose flowers are said to smell like grape bubble gum, viburnum carlesii, and the fragrant snowball have equally lovely scents, while the vitex, or chaste tree, has a more delicate bloom fragrance, but a pleasantly pungent odor to its leaves.

There are also shrubs and bushes for every taste, including spiraea, lilac, mock orange, elaeagnus, buddleia davidii, and Spanish broom, representing a range of bloom times and colors, as well as different fragrances. And, of course, the largest group in this category is the fragrant roses, from the heirloom varieties to the David Austin roses, and including some, but not all of the hybrid teas.

The best known fragrant vines in this region are honeysuckle, wisteria, clematis Montana with the scent of almonds, sweet autumn clematis, and Carolina jessamine.

Fragrant annuals and perennials form the largest group: sweet alyssum in the sun and sweet woodruff for shade are lovely groundcovers; among the bulbs are Dutch hyacinths, grape hyacinths, a number of daffodils and the occasional tulip in the spring and the common white lily of the valley in summertime. The annual four-o’clocks; bi-annual English and Siberian wallflowers; perennial red valerian, carnations, dianthus, Mexican mint marigold, Copper Canyon daisy, the yellow daylily ‘Hyperion’, and golden-spurred columbines; and of course the fragrant and/or aromatic herbs such as lavender, chamomile, catnip, rosemary, salvia greggii, mint, artemisia, bee balm, citrus thyme, Cleveland sage and agastache all contribute their unique scents. And, having labored by day to create the delight of a fragrant oasis, it is when we stroll through the garden at night that the mixed perfumes of dame’s rocket, night-scented stock, nicotiana, moon flower, bouncing bet, and the evening primrose turn the moonlit garden into a magical place in time and mind and forever fixed in memory