You might try different timings of a year to have different fragrance in four seasons. Or put out your favorite fragrant plants in pots and try to smell by yourself. Sense of fragrance perception is rather personal. I am sure thar you will find your pleasant combination.

There are no rules. Your nose knows.

Remember, though, some plants don't give off their aroma until the oils in the leaves have been warmed or rubbed between your fingers. Others send their fragrances into the air for what seems like miles!

Interesting question. Have you ever noticed plant scents clashing? I ask because IÂve never noticed that, but maybe itÂs just where IÂve lived. Now am wondering if itÂs coincidence that the plants that tend to look good together also smell good together? Maybe itÂs just because, like the above people mentioned, different plants in a garden are separated in space and even time, when you consider all the kinds of movement that scent depends on. Even when I can smell quite a few things at once, the experience is more like a symphony of certain fragrance notes rising as others fall, rather than like a "white noise" assault of everything at once.

I wouldnÂt plant lavender right next to rosemary just because they look too much alikeÂI think contrast looks better. I say please your eye, too, and if anything offends your nose, you can always move it!

To answer my own question:

I think this whole combination thing won't necessairly be an issue for a mediterrranean garden since most plants found in one don't release their scent into air. You need to brush past something like lavender to release its scent.

But, it does strike me as disappointing that my question hasn't been really addressed in those books ostenibly about fragrant gardens.