It's hard to believe this genus was named for Cleopatra's son. Mock-orange has one shot at glory and it does a great job. It is a large, arching, old fashioned shrub and right now, wonderfully fragrant.

Maackia, that looks like a Daphne, but I don't recognize it.

What is perfuming my garden (and I imagine a good chunk of the state since they are everywhere) is old-fashioned lilacs.

Dave is correct. My spouse planted it about ten years ago. Shortly after we met in 2010 she gave me a tour of the place and I told her not to get too attached as it would most likely start dying off branch by branch, which had been my experience. Here we are roughly seven years later and it is doing very well. She takes great joy in reminding me of this earlier comment...

I didn't know Philadelphus was named for Cleopatra's son. Learn something every day...and I'm done for the day. I've not had good luck with this genus, but the fragrance keeps me from letting it go. My latest attempt is P. coronarius, but it has a nasty habit of having sections die off for some inexplicable reason. What's left of it is loaded with flower buds so not all is lost.

The lilacs around here have been splendid this spring, but they usually are. I've yet to find one as pleasantly fragrant as old-fashioned S. vulgaris.

Paeonia!

I have a gardenia blooming, and another one is about to start blooming after it stops.

You can see it between the two gold mop cypress in the photo:

I may go get a close-up later today.

Korean Abelia (Abelia mosanensis) has started to bloom here. One website describes it as having a "delightful sweet jasmine fragrance".

I don't know a thing about Gardenia except when my nose catches scent of it at a nursery. It's fully hardy in NC?

That Abelia looks luscious. I planted one last season and it was promptly trimmed by my deer friends. If it's new, they're going to sample it. It has come back strong and I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Daphne and Peony are a nice combination. They like similar conditions and one quickly follows the flowering of the other. Anyone growing a tree peony or two?

"I don't know a thing about Gardenia except when my nose catches scent of it at a nursery. It's fully hardy in NC?"

This is my 3rd gardenia. My others aren't blooming quite yet (just forming buds). Sometimes they get some winter burn. My gardenia jasminoides 'August Beauty' made it through snow this year, but it came out of dormancy too early and got winter burned pretty bad. It's growing new leaves now, and starting to look better. The one pictured in my above comment is a gardenia jasminoides 'Daisy', I'm not sure about the other one, but it is most likely a cultivar of gardenia jasminoides as well. 'August Beauty' is one with double petals, and a bit of a late bloomer. Here are some pictures of my other one that I took around this time last year. It is only starting to form buds now:

I have since relocated the azalea beside of it in this photo (replaced with 'sky pencil' holly), and removed the bricks. It has now grown enough to have the gladioulus behind it growing up through it (I will probably relocate it after it flowers). This gardenia has been in place for about 6 years. Very slow growing. If you are into growing tropical plants the way I am, it would be worth the trouble to keep a containerized one.

How does Lindera benzoin (spice bush) do in your part of NC? Maybe not gardenia fragrant, but a native that I've heard...people are saying...is quite nice.

Spicebush performs well here. I don't have any, but I had the pleasure to experience the spice-like fragrance earlier this spring while they were in bloom.

Found this one while hiking, it was growing near the ruins of an old mill. Kinda fruity smelling.

More gardenia blooms:

Daphne mezereum, Abelia mosanensis, and Abeliophylum distichum are the favorites in my garden.

Viburnum carlesii and V. farreri are not bad either.

Thank you all for sharing. Sam, is that Sweet Bubba? Plant fragrance is one of life's pleasures.

Mock Orange is flowering now and beckons. This native is also spicing up the neighborhood.

Love Mock Orange. It's a shame the season is so short.

Working in the garden yesterday, I was enjoying a lovely perfume which I tracked down to one of my deciduous rhododendrons, I think Golden Lights.

Beautybush, mock orange, dames rocket, a bit of olive.

Hands down the SB Magnolia has all the rest beat. Just one flower, opening around 4PM and the entire yard smells of perfume. Did you notice, our native magnolia flowers are never damaged by frost? This one in full bloom today and still retaining last year's leaves. An added plus, SB Magnolia is larval host to the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail.

I planted 'Ned's Northern Belle' last summer and it had major dieback issues. It's only mostly dead, but last winter was on the mild side, so I'm not expecting it to survive its second winter.

The fragrance of my side-by-side Fringe Trees is fantastic! They definitely have waffability. Is that a word?

sam_md, what is SB magnolia?

And yes, my umbrella mag's emerging leaves were killed by a late frost, but the flower-buds weren't. So it then bloomed w/o any leaves (leaves have since regrown).

SB = Sweetbay Magnolia or M. virginiana. Here it is well placed as a multi-stemmed grouping.

SB