Nicotiana, the ones that bloom in the evening. I know they are supposed to be for sun but mine don't seem to know that.

Annual or non-hardy plants would include heliotrope or mignonette. A number of shrubs, specially winter blooming ones, will provide fragrance in shade: sweet box (Sarcococca), Lonicera fragrantissima, Japanese mahonia, wintersweet (Chimonanthus), and sweetspire, Clethra, will do the same for summer.

If not very heavy or dense shade, you can expand your palatte considerably - Oriental lilies, vining honeysuckles, Clematis armandii, Philadelphus (mock orange), deciduous azaleas, flowering currant, just to name a few.

There's another hosta called "Aphrodite", with a beautiful fragrance. Clethra "Ruby Spice" is wonderful. Living in Seattle, you could grow Corydalis- I don't remeber which variety is fragrant-check the Heronswood Nursery website; but the electric blue flowers are spectacular!

Hosta 'Guacamole' is unbeatable for fragrance and amazing foliage! 'Fragrant Bouquet' is definitely another great suggestion as well as the parent hosta 'Plantaginea'. There are others that are fragrant from this lineage but I don't know them all. If you go to the hosta forum, I believe someone listed a ton of fragrant ones lately.

Hi, just found this forum and thought I'd add a thought to your question. I agree with all the hosta suggestions, they smell wonderful. If you're looking for small, spring plants that are fragrant, here's a few that grow well in my shade garden: Forget Me Nots, Winter Aconite (come up very early, tiny yellow flowers that smell like honey-but careful, they are poisonous, so I plant them where my pets don't go), and, I beleive the woodland hyacinths were also fragrant this spring.

Nepeta Walker's Low is an excellent perennial that tolerates afternoon shade. It may not flower as much as it would in sun or part-sun, but the foliage - soft, grayish, toothed - is beautiful and fragrant. It becomes bushy. Cats don't attack it. I've grown in full sun where it really thrives, and in part-sun where growth is slowed down only a bit. Maureen

I like all suggestions. I would like to expand on Gardengal's Sarcococca idea. All the following is my own opinion and does not reflect that of the management!

This group of small shrubs is one of my favorites. I have four species so far. They serve very well for dry shade and in my experience compete well with large trees. Not only can they produce fragrance for shade but some even have lovely fruit that goes through color changes. Of the ones I grow by far my favorite is Sarcococca confusa. It has beautiful glossy foliage, very sweet and powerful fragrance, and produces large quantities of glossy red aging to black berries. I'll never forget the first time experiencing its fragrance. I was walking in the garden in February, quite a ways from it, when this heavenly scent wafted to my nose. I could not imagine where it coming from! It took me ten minutes to track down the source! Truly a gem! Here is a shot of fruit from two years ago.....

So sorry for the wide shot, its the only one I have of the berries!

Daphne odora. I have two of them on the northeast side of my house, and in February and March they fill half the block with the most wonderful fragrance. They require extremely well-draining soil and cannot have even the tineist bit of mulch touching them. They absolutely cannot tolerate standing water. So they are a little fussy, but the fragrance is so worth it. Royal Standard hostas are fragrant in August, and gardenias (if your climate allows them) also grow on the northeast side of my house. Sweet Autumn clematis is fragrant in September. If you have a little bit of sun and your winters don't get too cold, nothing beats Confederate jasmine.

Osmanthus handle quite a bit of shade and smell like apricot cobbler to me. Elaeagnus can get wild and woolly but have an unbelievable fragrance in the fall. Like Osmanthus they too are listed for partial shade. Nothing much will kill them. Again, partial shade, but Butterfly Ginger smells terrific. Carolina Allspice take lots of shade. They are boring until they bloom, and then in Spring they have that "what on earth is so fragrant?" thing going. I noticed they vary alot in fragrance and intensity from plant to plant. The Confederate Jasmine that sugarhill mentioned will do well where you live. It is a climber for a trellis or arbor.

Phlox divaricata "Clouds of Perfume" and "Blue Perfume" have amazing scent that really does perfume the whole garden, but not in a sickly, cloying way.

Cimicifuga HBB and Brunette..Oriental Lillies (as stated above) Viburnum Juddii, Osmanthu.

I've planted lemon thyme in the shade around some rocks and its taken off well...beautiful, luscious lemon smell and very good w/fish/chicken and veggies. T

just trying to see the answers arggh

Can you not see them? The entire thread is visible to me. How appropriate any of the answers may be depends on one's location and specific climate. The OP did not designate a location or climate zone, so the suggestions cover the board - some hardy, some maybe not.

And to be perfectly honest, some of the suggestions are not shade plants at all but just seem to be somewhat tolerant of a shady condition. That can affect how well they bloom, which will also affect how intensely fragrant they may be. And some, like the thyme, will not be fragrant at all unless crushed or bruised.

I see it all too. Perhaps you could start a new post giving your zone and closest large city if you have the same or similar question. This thread is very old.

A lot of the deciduous azaleas are shade shrubs that have incredible fragrance when in bloom.

I'm in zone 8a. I'm a little overwhelmed by the vast array of suggestions. Hopefully my zone will narrow down my choices. I'm new at planting. The area I want to plant is mostly shade beside an entrance gate. Frangrance is important.

Honestly, most of these suggestions will work in your zone. A better screening criteria might be the size of the planting bed and/or what size plants you need.

Thank you

I see sweet autumn clematis mentioned above. I rue the day I planted sweet autumn clematis in my yard. It pops up all over. I hate that plant.

Phlox divaricata 'Blue Perfume', as mentioned above. I have a patch of it, and it is indeed fragrant.

I suggest lily of the valley. I have some photos of these plants on my site: studioepic.com. They smell great and look very nice through the spring / summer months. The only issue is they have a short blooming period (~ 2 weeks). The also spread over time, however they do spread slowly so I suggesting getting a decent batch and planting them with some space to spread in between the plants. In a few years you'll have a wonderful set of plants.