3-4 sq ft??

One of my favorite shrubs is the compact Escallonia. Mine bloom off and on all summer and into late Fall.

Another one is Henry's Garnet. Altho info states it gets 5-6ft, mine is going on 5 yrs and is just a little over 3 ft. tall. I keep the spreading growth cut back to control the width.

Here is a link that might be useful: Henry's

Ooops! I meant 3,000 to 4,000 square ft. Thanks so much for the ideas!, I'm excited to get started. I looked up the Escallonia- it is beautiful and I have seen Henry's Garnet before and do like it.

Much appreciated!!!! :-)

Fothergilla is a wonderful smallish shrub that seems woefully underused in this area. Early flowers are puffy white bottlebrushes that smell faintly of honey. Fall color can be stunning and there is a newer cultivar on the market that has a distinctly bluish cast during the growing season ('Blue Mist', IIRC). Abelias are good long-flowering choice as well and attractive to hummingbirds. And hydrangeas in all their myriad forms and colorings are perpetually popular but offer no fragrance.

While I understand your concerns about dog safety, I'm not sure I'd let that become an overriding factor when making plant choices. More common plants tend to be toxic to some degree (including a number of popular vegetables) than those that are not and excluding them all will result in a very boring garden. Dogs, especially those as intelligent as a Golden retriever, can be trained to leave plants alone - most of them need no encouragement if provided a proper diet :-) I've gardened wih dogs all my life (kids, too) with no plant restrictions and without incident. You are more likely to encounter problems with the dog trampling young plants while still in the rambunctious puppy stage than you are with them consuming possible toxic ones. The actual incidence of plant poisonings to pets is really quite low......much more of an issue with inquisitive toddlers!

Yes, the usual issue with dogs, plants and safety is safety of the plants. Complete success comes only from effectively excluding the pets from the plantings, same as with deer and rabbits.

You hit one of my great passions - fragrant flowering shrubs! Deciduous: Viburnum burkwoodii or carlessii, also called Korean spice Viburnum, white clusters of spicy wafting fragrance in spring - rather like dianthus smell. Also deciduous are certain Exbury azaleas that are 4-5 feet tall, yellow-orange range and heavenly fragrance. Taking a bit more room is Wintersweet, which I think is Chaemonanthes praecox, and on the winterblooming theme, witchhazel or winter hazel which have elusive wafting scents.

Evergreen and winterblooming is Sarcococca rusticifolia or ... there's a dwarf form I'm forgetting, but it's the more usual around here. Sweet and powerful and rank and wonderful - pretty glossy dark green leaves, it started blooming in early Feb in my garden and still going. A wafter.

You've discovered daphne - the secret to her heart is drainage. If you can plant her on a slope she'll survive summer neglect and if you're kind to her, even thrive. And daphne odora has the most exquisite scent on earth.

Not fragrant but very lovely in early spring is the Redbud, Cercis canadensis, a small tree really, but fits very well in a shrubbery. She blooms hot pink early in the spring so should not be behind evergreens, but planted with other bare twig plants she's lovely

Clerodendrum ... I'm losing my species names tonight, the one called Harlequin Glory Bower. Blooms in Aug and Sept with a very fine rakish scent that wafts - also very small tree, good for mixed shrubbery. There's another Clerodendrum called Cashmere Bouquet that I covet, but I think it's a zone 9 plant... but a little more global warming and it may do well in the PNW

There's Osmanthes fragrans, Clethra alnifolia, two others on the tip of my tongue... oh, oh! I need to go to bed.

Find a book called The Fragrant Path by Louise Beebe Wilder. She has whole chapters on fragrant shrubs, or trees, or scents of orchard and meadow, etc. Study that book and your life will never be the same!

Always lead with your nose...

Thanks for all your great ideas!!! Can't wait to get more plants!!!

One thing LOL is it possible to overdo the fragrance plants?? I've heard of people trying to give away their Lilac or Daphne sprigs because they have become overpowering!!

TIA!!