I am a long time lurker and first time poster on this forum. I usually post on the winter sowing forum, but this thread encouraged me to post because my cottage garden inspirations are strongly connected to the fragrances I associate with this garden style. :)

In my gardens I tend to mingle my fragrant plants because I love being assailed by the different scents as I work in my yard. In my vegetable gardens, I have flowers and herbs planted all around, so I have those smells while I am weeding and digging.

The fragrant plants I enjoy throughout my gardens are
Austin roses--Jude the Obscure, Tradescant, Heritage (in my veggie garden), and Abraham Darby
Agastache Sunset Hyssop
Hidcote Lavender
Anise Hyssop
Cinnamon Basil
Dwarf Stock
Lemon Balm
Mint--in pots
Creeping Thyme
Teddy Bear Sunflowers (really! they have a scent!)
PHLOX
Fenbow Carnation
Russian Sage
Dill (I know, weird)
Sweet Pea
Peonies
Iris

Thompson and Morgan has a section on their site titled "The Fragrant Garden" or something like that. I have received some good ideas from looking at their selections.

cheers,
Norabelle

Welcome to the 'other side', Norabelle!

I plant lots of fragrant plants. They are all around my porches and areas where I spend a lot of time. I purposely toss seeds of sweet Annie, perilla and lemon balm into the yard so I can enjoy the smells while DH mows.

My favorite fragrant plants are Wisteria, Viburnum, lilies - the things you can smell a block away!

LL - it's a great idea to put a bench in the middle of all the scents you are planning. I like to make sure I have enough to bring inside to enjoy also.

Mickie

I dont exactly have a fragrant area, but i have some roses by a bench, and a mock orange nearby. I also have a clethra bush, which smells like a sweet sugary candy when it blooms, looks like its covered in pink fuzzy caterpillars! I keep 2 pots of heliotrope on my porch in the shade. I absolutly love heliotrope, its a great annual thaat smells like vanilla or baby powder. The previous homeowner had planted mint somewhere in our yard, i can smell it when i cut the grass. I plan on sprinkling mint seeds through the lawn as i really love the scent! I also have catmint, i like that scent too. I love lavender but it dosnt do well here, for me, but i may try in a pot. I also love that citronella scented geranium. A little weird, i love the scent of citronella!

Ever notice how some scents are obvious to some and not others? My mom bought an oleander for its amazing scent. I smell nothing! And heliotrope to me smells like baby powder 100percent. Everyone else says it smells like vanilla or sugar cookies. Another plant that my mom says is scented is nicotiana, or tabbacco flower. I cant smell it, but i bought seeds for a kind that says to be highly scented.
I also have a pretty daylily, its pink, called druids chant. I blove pink but when the tag said scented, i had to get it! I cant wait to see what it smells like.
Oooh i forgot , i love the scent of petunias, especially at night.

Norabelle- welcome to cottage gardens! So happy to have a new friend. I was thinking of adding creeping thyme to our lawn, i have to reseed part of it. Does it bloom pink or more red? Ive seen a few conflicting pictures,and red wouldnt work. what does it smell like?

I don't have a fragrant garden by itself though I have always thought of putting one in. However like Norabelle said I like to ba able to smell fragrance wherever I am in the garden so I put it everywhere. Right in front of my patio is mey herb garden that I have filled with many fragrant herbs like Rosemary, lemon thyme, basil, feverfew, oregano, mint, and dill. Then just beyong that along my back fence I have butterfly bush that I can really smell strong, roses, nepta, four o' clocks, and hopefully this year my moonflower vine (last year tried and failed at starting it from seed). Then in my favorite part of the garden I have an arbor swing and directly to its left I have my new rose and perennial bed. IN their I have on order Buff Beauty to climb the arbor along with several other fragrant roses, tabacco flower, asylum, nepta, and more non fragrant flowers. Then also in my side yard along my driveway I have more roses some of my most fragrant ones, lots of nepta (love that stuff!), fragrant daylilies, homestead verbeana (love the smell) more non fragrant flowers and this year plan to add some more frangrant plants. Right in front of my door to the left of the steps I have my annual bed that I try to add fragrant ones so you smell it right before entering and leaving the house. I also have fragrant daylilies there too.
~Meghan

My whole garden is full of fragrant things with several seating areas throughout the garden. Many fragrant vines like Honeysuckle, Clematis and Akebia climb and cling to the fence and an arch. David Austin roses both climber and shrub as well as Actinidia kolomikta with it's pink and white leaves and lemon scented flowers have a place in my garden. Lilacs, Wisteria, Mock Orange, Daphne and Viburnum are scattered throughout. Then there's the Cardiocrinums which once they bloom you have to wait 3 to 4 years before the pups are big enough to bloom and fill the air with their fragrance once aain. Echinacea, Lilies, Nicotiana, Peonies and Dianthus are a few more. If I sat and thought for awhile I bet I could add a lot more to this list. Fragrance is the one thing I strive for above everything else, everything else is secondary.

Annette

Angel trumpets (brugmansias) are very fragrant and showy. I like to plant good smelling things everywhere.

Susie

Hi,

Thank you for the kind welcome! :)

@Lilyfinch, my creeping thyme has pink-to-pale-lavender flowers on it. I usually have a couple of bloom flushes but that happens because the different patches bloom at different times (no pun intended :)). They smell like thyme. The bees love it!

I am working on turning my boulevard/terrace/hell strip/whatever-it's-called-section-of-grass-next-to-the-street into a grassless strip.

According to my city's ordinance, I am not to plant flowers there, but I transplanted two carpets of thyme there in the fall along with five little plants of turkish and wooly speedwell, which I am hoping survive our winter with the mulch and weed blankets I gave them. They both stay at grass level, so I hope this is okay. :)

Both thyme and speedwell can stand up to salt, which is an issue in my area with all of our snow. Right now, I have about three-to-four feet of snow on top of the thyme and speedwell sections.

I am enjoying reading all the different flower choices for fragrances. I think I need to get some heliotrope, and I am glad to learn verbena smells because I bought some seeds to grow this year. Nicotiana has not been a strong smelling plant for me, either, and I bought seeds that said they had a strong fragrance.
cheers,
Norabelle

Here is a link that might be useful: turkish speedwell

Norabelle another welcome from me, some Nicotianas only give off their fragrance at night and some have no fragrance whatsoever. Try the tall white flowering Nicotiana sylvestris it has a lovely fragrance, this one will overwinters for me on occasion but only if we have a mild winter.

Annette

If you can find a way to incorporate a honeysuckle vine... MMMMM. That is the best smell to me. (Besides the lovely hyacinths, which signal spring!)

My honesuckle got sick last year so I missed most of the bloom time, but it's better now. Can't wait to smell it!

Oh, and some honesuckle doesn't smell. Check it out first.

I put fragrant plants and herbs throughout the gardens. It just makes it so pleasant when I do my daily 'inspection' tour. I put two mock orange near the laneway last spring, and am hoping they will bloom this year - this is a scent from my childhood.
Welcome Norabelle! I agree about the colour of the creeping thyme flowers - even though mine is called 'red' creeping thyme, the flowers are pink to lilac - maybe some other part of the plant is red!!??

Nancy.

I love fragrant plants! no separate area for them -- I want them everywhere. Doubt if I'll remember them all in January to be able to list, but the ones that are most potent for me and really waft through my gardens include:
hyacinths, grape hyacinths and tons of daffodils
lilacs
lily of the valley
Dame's Rocket (hesperis)
sweet william
peonies
mock oranges
bearded iris (those old-fashioned ones that smell like grape bubblegum are great!)
centaurea montana
rugosa rose
oriental lilies ('Muscadet' and 'Stargazer' are the ultimate!)
lemon lilies
phlox
honeysuckle vine 'pink lemonade'
dictamnus
valeriana officinalis (true valerian)
plantaginea (and sibling) hostas
cilantro is an herb that really kicks off a great scent too

What a coincidence. I just posted about my favorite rose on my blog. It has the most fragrance of anything I have smelled before. its Madame Isaac Pereire.
Tammy
check it out here:

Here is a link that might be useful: My blog

Thank you for the nicotiana suggestions. The scent I notice is at night, but the pungency I was expecting was not as strong.

I have had success with the nicotiana I have reseeding, but I will look for the sylvestris you mentioned, Annette, and I am looking for more whites in my garden, too. Double bonus! :)

cheers,
Norabelle

Thank you all for such wonderful plant suggestions! I had no idea so many of you had fragrant plants throughout your garden :)

I would really like to put together a smaller garden that has roses, lavender and other fragrant plants and herbs for potpourri. It would be bordered on one side by a lilac hedge and I would love to put in a path or small seating area with the bricks. Does anyone have any ideas about this? I know some of you have thought about doing a fragrant garden. Any pictures, ideas for using my bricks, or just suggestions in general?

Also, any roses, herbs or other flowers that are hardy to zone 4/5 (or annuals) that you'd want to include in the garden? I'd like to do honeysuckle, but it's not good with the horses. Mock orange might work. I could put that on the edge of the garden :)

I don't always notice specific scents in my garden, I think because we always have our windows open in the summer, as well I'm outside a lot and become used to the scents but here are some scented plants I have or often or occasionally plant in the case of annuals. They are around my patio as well as spread all over my garden as they have divergent needs.

~various herbs around the patio and creeping thyme to walk on replacing a few patio bricks, one year I had 10 different scented mints in big pots on my patio
~sweet williams and pinks
~alyssum - this is a very obvious one when it flowers as it's near the house and very fragrant
~lavender
~petunias
~snapdragons
~yarrow
~nasturtium
~bleeding heart
~4 o'clocks
~lily-of-the-valley
~bearded iris
~muskmallow
~lilies
~peonies
~verbena - tried this for the first time last year and will definitely repeat - annual here
~pine and spruce trees

Lavender Lass, one idea for your bricks is to use them around your lavender as a heat sink. I use rocks around and near mine for that. Attempt to simulate a warmer climate.

I'll tell you, if I had all the fragrance in one small space I wouldn't be able to take the smell!!!! My garden can be so strongly scented you smell it when you turn the corner up the street! I really enjoy it spread out a bit so that we can discern one scent from the next.
The trick is to carry the scent through the summer here.

agirlgroupgirl, what sort of fragrant flowers do you use?
Tammy

Girlgroupgirl- I can see where that might be a problem in Atlanta. You can grow so many great vines and flowers and you have all that humidity.

Here, it's cold in the winter and dry in the summer. I had two star jasmine on the corners of my porch last summer and could only smell them (more than four feet away) when it was a little humid in the evening.

I want to have one area where I can keep all my potpourri flowers and herbs together (maybe with a little brick path through the plants and under the bench) and enjoy the fragrances. I may have to stick my nose in the flowers, but I do want some fragrance :)

Also, some flowers I could dry and make into sachets would be nice for my nieces, other family and friends for Christmas gifts. Thanks again for all the great replies.

All wonderful ideas indeed.

I must agree with Party Music about the Plantaginea Hosta (commonly called August Lily). I am so in love with this hosta. When it is in bloom I must go to sniff it at least two or three times a day.

I love honeysuckle, roses, Lily-of-the-Valley, Lilacs, Mock Orange, Phlox, Dianthus, and Peonies for their scent. I must be the odd one, as I am not terribly fond of the scent of lavender.

There are also a number of plants that, while they don't perfume the air, have a nice scent when rubbed. Such as Perennial Geraniums and scented geraniums (Pelargonium).

One plant that I just adore for its fragarant foliage is Stachys coccinea 'Hidalgo'. It smells like 7-Up soda! Grows in zones seven to ten, but I have gotten it to overwinter. I suppose it could always be grown as an annual too.
CMK

I too like scented flowers but I prefer subtle fragrance because my sinus can't take overwhelming smells. Once I had a lilac Miss Kim which I was forced to remove because I couldn't stand the fragrance. I also have the same issue with my shasta daisy but I like the plant so much I keep it where the smell is minimized.

So I limit my choice to lemon thyme, russian sage, lavender, some lemon scented bearded iris, russian sage, rosemary, sage, lilac, bay tree. I have honeysuckles but it bears no scent :-(.

Hi Tammy:
I grow many of the plants already listed here
Bearded Irises
species daylilies
LA and other lilies
Jasmine
Gardenias
roses
4 O'clocks
many kinds of gingers (each has a different scent)
just to name a few plus many "honey" scented plants that together are very strong and sweet - butterfly bush, gallardia (sniff this one closely!), vitex
Herbs with scented foliage again Vitex, also rosemary, lavenders, oreganoes, thymes, lemon balm and so many more!

This is not a complete list at all, and I have a variety on and off in the garden. I lost many scented plants in the drought we had and will re-plant them as I go along. However even without them the accumulation of plants and flowers still have a very strong scent. I love it when people say they turned the corner and walked down our street just because they wanted to find out where the lovely scent was coming from!

GGG, your garden sounds a lot like mine, I try to have as much scent throughout the garden for as long as possible. I haven't grown gingers yet but I think there are one or two hardy for me if I give them a bit of protection. My Daphne odora marginata is full of flower buds, this is the first of my scented plants to bloom. Another of my favorite shrubs is a Philadelphus 'Belle Etoile' this one is planted just below our kitchen window, when in bloom window open, it's perfume wafts through the house.

My montana clematis 'Wilsonii'(scent of chocolate) and 'Rubens'(vanilla scent) are two more favs as is the larger flowering 'Fair Rosamond' (scent of violets). I also have the winter flowering clematis cirrhosa 'Freckles' which is supposed to have a fragrance but this one grows along the inside of the roof in my enclosed garden so haven't been able to get my nose close :o).

Another flowering vine with fragrance is Akebia quinata, said to have the scent of chocolate but it smell more like black currant jelly to me. Actinidia kolomitka, along with it's beautiful foliage in the spring has hidden white flowers lemon scented. And.... then there's the Wisteria, Honeysuckles and Lilacs they all have a place in my garden.

Cytisus battandieri (Pineapple Broom) a strong scent of pineapple and let's not forget deciduous Azaleas, yes some are smell quite musky but some are very sweetly scented.

I have a few David Austin roses, 'Abraham Darby', 'Constance Spry', 'Graham Thomas', 'The Mayor of Casterbridge', 'Gertrude Jekell', 'Glamis Castle' and 'Asha Sheriff' pluse the rambler 'Albertine' all add to the potpori of scent throughout the season.

Can you tell I love scent in the garden, I haven't even started on the lilies and other scented plants that have found a home in my garden :o).

Annette

Thanks a girlgroupgirl, I already grow quite abit of lemon balm. I love the scent when it is disturbed. it smells like lemon pledge to me. But otherwise, it doesnt seem to waft thru the air.I am w/s gaillardia, 4 Oclocks, and butterfly bush. I once had nicotiana Only The Lonely, that smelled wonderful. The only rose I have the really sends out its fragrance is the Mme Isaac Pieriere I mentioned above. So maybe I will notice more this summer.
Tammy

If you want a nice, fragrant thyme, try 'Spicy Orange' which has a wonderful orange scent when touched/brushed against and interesting foliage that makes it look like a miniature evergreen (but it's not evergreen...) Blanc Double de Coubert rose is wonderfully fragrant - when it's in bloom, you can smell it a long way off - to me it smells like Pond's Cold Cream that my mother used to use, so I always think of my late mother when it blooms :-) Regal lilies are my favorite lilies for scent - and the @#$%! lily beetles seem to mostly ignore them. I've largely given up on lilies because of those cursed beetles! I love the spicy morning and evening scent of Blue Wave petunias and wonder why seed catalogs never seem to refer to how nicely scented they are. Lilacs are another of our favorite scented plants but, like the Regal lilies, they are overpowering if brought indoors so are always enjoyed outside only!

Woody, I will have to look for that thyme. I don't always have an easy time growing it because of clay soil. I put a patch along the edge of a raised bed two years ago and it turned into a very pretty gold mound last year, so I want to try more.

It's great to have a plant that reminds you of your Mom. My Mom loved Gardenias and I never fail to think of her every time I smell one. I've heard that about Ponds before. [g]

My DH helps me a LOT in the garden and he is just not a gardener. He does not have the interest that I have. I always felt bad that he helped so much and didn't enjoy the garden as much as I did. He never made comments about plants and seemed indifferent to everything I tried to interest him in. Then one day a newly planted Honeysuckle bloomed and he came in and asked, 'What's that smell?' He loved it! So I finally had a way to bring him enjoyment with the garden. Now I look for every fragrant plant I can find...lol. He even brings home Hyacinths from the supermarket now and for the first time he suggested himself that he might want to bring houseplants to the office. He has three now. :-)

Honeysuckle, Roses, Viburnum carlesii, Lilacs, Casa Blanca Lilies, I love them all. I can't get enough. Four O'Clocks, Alyssum and Heliotrope for annuals.

Woody, I was so sick of the RLLBeetle, that two years ago, I gave up on my Casa Blancas and pulled them all out and tossed them. They looked horrid that year. To my surprise they came back last year. I guess there must have been offsets. They looked wonderful and I managed to stay on top of the Beetles last year. So now I'm going for it and buying more. I have a new approach. I used to struggle to pick them by hand, I don't spray anything. They would fall and they turn upside down and you can't see them. Now I carry a 5 gallon pail with water in the bottom with me, and just knock them into it. It is much easier for some reason. Then I eliminate them on the driveway. Last year was the first year my foliage looked decent in awhile. I am keeping my fingers crossed for this year. I love lilies and would have a garden full if it weren't for that darn bug!

I have a fragrance garden around our dining patio that is based on blooming evergreens:

Magnolia virginiana (sweet bay magnolia)
Gardenia 'August Beauty'
Confederate Jasmine (vine)
Winter daphne (it died after 3 years of glorious blooms)
Osmanthus fragrans
Akebia chocolate vine (may be a future one to pull out if it gets put on the invasive list. I've had no problems with mine showing up anywhere but the arbor)

Other plants, not all are fragrant:

White butterfly ginger
Colocasia (fragrant bloom - this one will have to be moved to a sunnier location this year as the magnolia is now shading it too much to bloom)
Nepeta (spicy foliage)
Pulmonaria (to brighten up the understory)
Spanish bluebells
Cryptomeria japonica for foliage texture
Corkscrew willow for foliage texture

I've started an herb area in a sunny spot at the entrance from the butterfly garden: sage, thyme, oregano, rosemary, lavender

I also have containers that I use in the area as well as a holding bed where I start young plants that I transplant out in the big gardens in autumn.

It is a difficult space to photograph as the evergreens enclose the garden on three sides and the house on one side.

Cameron