A very well-known gardener once said to me, “Anyone can do spring.” I know what he meant. In spring, the flowering trees and bulbs bloom all by themselves in landscapes everywhere – months before the weeds get taller than our beloved plants around the first of June. As anyone who knows me knows, I love botanical fragrance – the scent of plants. Here’s a list of fragrant plants. Most smell lovely. A few don’t. There’s the carrion plants that smell as if you threw a steak out in the sun for a week. And there are the “skunk” plants. But that sulfurous odor isn’t bad in little whiffs. And then there are the roses – thousands of them — and each one seems to smell a little bit different.
(Below: Viola x wittrockiana — pansies. These brownish trailing plants smell to me like honey, baby powder, crayons, lipstick and dust)
Some fragrant flowers, leaves, twigs and more
Below is a list gleaned from plants in my latest book, The Scentual Garden:
Abies koreana ‘Hortsmann’s Silberlocke’
Actea simplex ‘Hillside Black Beauty’
Agastache feonoclium, anise hyssop
Agastache species, hyssop
Amorphophallus titanum, corpse flower
Anise-scented, licorice-scented
Arisaema candidissimum
Asclepias syrica, milkweed, A. incarnata ‘Ice Ballet’, swamp milkweed
Bearded iris
Buxus varieties, boxwoods
Calycanthus ‘Venus’, C. ‘Athens’, C. sinensis, Calycanthus floridus
Calycanthus floridus ‘Athens’
Calycanthus floridus, Carolina allspice
Cercidiphyllum japonicum ‘Marioka Weeping’, weeping Katsura
Cestrum ‘Orange Peel’, C. nocturnum, night-blooming jasmine
Citrus flowers
Citrus varieties, Poncirus trifoliata
Clematis ‘Betty Corning’
Convallaria majalis ‘Albostriata’
Convallaria majalis species and varieties
Corylopsis species, winter Hazel
Cymbopogon zizaniodes, vetiver
Daphne hybrids; D. x transatlantica
Daphne odora ‘Aureomarginata’, winter Daphne
Datura species, hybrids, Devil’s trumpet
Dianthus hybrids, cottage pinks
Edgeworthia chrysantha, paperbush
English rose ‘Graham Thomas’
English rose “Scepter’d Isle’
Epiphyllum oxypetalum, night-blooming cereus
Floribunda rose ‘Julia Child’
Fragrant peonies
Fragrant peonies: ‘Festiva Maxima’, Duchesse de Nemours’, ‘Monsieur Jules Elle’, ‘Karl Rosenfeld’
Franklinia alatamaha with honey bee
Franklinia alatamaha, Benjamin Franklin tree
Freesia hybrids
Fritillaria persica
Gardenia jasminoides
Gaulthera procumbens, wingergreen
Geranium machrorhizum, big-root geranium
Ginger root
Ginkgo biloba
Hemerocalis ‘Yao Ming’; H. ‘Hyperion’
Hamamelis species and hybrids, witch hazel; H. virginiana, H. ‘Rochester’
Heliotropium arborescens
Hosta ‘Holy Mole’
Hosta plantaginea; H. p. ‘Grandiflora’
Hoya kerrii
Hoya publicalyx ‘Royal Hawaiian Purple’; Hoya carnosa, wax plant
Hyacinthus orientalis varieties
Hylotelephium telephium (sedum), Sedum ternatum
Ipomea alba, Moonflower; Manduca sexta, tomato hornworm
Jasminum grandiflorum
Jasminum polyanthum, winter jasmine; Jasminum nitidum
Juglans nigra, black walnut
Juniperus virginiana ‘Taylor’
Koelreuteria paniculata, golden rain tree
Laurus nobilis, bay laurel
Lavandula selections
Lemony scents
Lilium regale
Lilium regale, fragrant hostas, Liquidambar styraciflua ‘Slender Silhouette’
Lilium regale, regal lily
Lobularia maritima, sweet alyssum; Itea virginica Virginia spweet spire
Long-stem red roses
Lonicera fragrantissima, winter honeysuckle
Lonicera japonica ‘Halliana’, Hall’s honeysuckle
Lonicera periclymenum ‘Scensation’, L. x heckrotii ‘Gold Flame’, L. periclymenum ‘Peaches and Cream’
Lysichiton americanum, Western skunk cabbage
Lysichiton camtschatcensis, Japanese skunk cabbage
Magnolia ‘Lois’, M. ‘Butterflies’
Magnolia grandiflora ‘Edith Bogue’
Magnolia grandiflora ‘Bracken’s Brown Beauty’
Maclura pomnifera, Osage orange, hedgeapple
Magnolia figo, banana shrub
Magnolia grandiflora ‘Kay Pariss’
Magnolia sieboldii
Medicinal plants, Eucalyptus cinerea, silver dollar tree
Mentha species and relatives – square stems
Monarch butterfly on goldenrod
Monarda and pipevine swallowtail
Monarda didyma selections, bee balm
Monarda fistulosa, Oswego tea
Myrica pensylvanica, bayberry
Myrtus communis, myrtle
Narcissus ‘Geranium’
Nepeta hybrids, catmint
Nicotiana varieties, flowering tobacco
Old Westbury Gardens
Paperwhite narcissus
Passiflora caerulea; P. incarnata, maypop
Pelargonium ‘Cy’s Sunburst’, Assorted Pelargoniums
Intersectional hybrid peony ‘High Noon’
Petunia hybrid, Brunsfelsia grandiflora
Philadelphus species, mock orange; P. ‘Belle Etoile’
Phlox paniculata, garden phlox
Phlox paniculata, garden phlox
Plectranthus varieties
Primula veris, cowslip
Prunus mume, flowering apricot
Prunus x yedoensis, Yoshino cherry
Pseudocydonia sinensis, Chinese quince
Rhododendron ‘Fragrantissimum’; R. Exbury hybrid
Rhododendron viscosum
Rhododendron ‘Late Date’
Ribes odoratum, clove currant
Robinia pseudoacacia, black locust
Rosa ‘Constance Spry’
Rosa ‘Petite de Hollande’
Rosmarinus varieties
Rudbeckia varieties, R. ‘Sunrise’
Salvia officinalis, culinary sage, S. sclarea, clary sage
Salvia splendens, pineapple sage, Centratherum punctatum, Brazilian bachelor’s button, pineapple thistle
Spiraea thunbergii ‘Ogon’
Stapelia gigantea, carrion flower, starfishflower
Symphyotrichum (Aster) oblongifolium ‘Raydon’s Favorite’ (Greenwood Gardens)
Symplocarpus foetidus, Eastern skunk cabbage
Syringa vulgaris ‘President Lincoln’; Syringa reticulata subsp. pekinensis
Tanacetum vulgare, tansy; Chrysanthemum hybrids
The Scentual Garden plant list
Thymus ‘David Baird’, Oreganum species and selections
Tilia americana, linden
Tilia cordata, European little-leaf linden
Tulipa ‘Prinses Irene’
Turmeric
Vanilla planifolia, vanilla;
Viburnum x burkwoodii ‘Mohawk’
Viola odorata ‘Comte de Brazza’
Viola odorata, Parma violets
Wisteria floribunda ‘Longissima Alba’
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