When you buy plants for your garden, are you attracted by their colors or do you also consider their scent? There is nothing better than catching the sweet aroma of your garden flowers in a warm summer breeze, and we have a few simple pointers to start your fragrant garden.
Below are some of our top tips on how to achieve a garden that smells as good as it looks.
1. Consider the potency of plants you want to use
If you have scented plants with various strength levels you might want to think a little about where you are going to locate them in your space to create the perfect fragrant garden. For example, if you have a strongly scented flower such as a ‘Star Gazer’ Lily, this might be best planted further away from windows and pathways in order to prevent it becoming too dominant. More subtle fragrances such as that from Sweet Peas would be good in closer proximity to pathways, windows and decks. To add even more variation to your fragrance filled garden you can plant night blooming flowers, which are a fantastic addition that you can enjoy on the longer summer evenings and won’t interfere with daytime aromas. For example, Moonflowers and Tuberoses are brilliant evening bloomers, which will add a new dimension to your garden.
2. Don’t crowd heavily scented plants
Similarly, if you would like to use multiple heavily fragranced flowers try not to place them all in the same place or too close together. The scents will combine and become too overpowering, losing their individual brilliance. It will be much more enjoyable for you if you can manage to separate these plants and scatter them throughout the garden. Furthermore, to co-ordinate your garden you could stagger bloom seasons of these plants to ensure that their unique fragrances don’t get lost. For example, wisteria will make your garden smell beautiful in the spring, while roses and lilies will take over in the summer.
3. Wind patterns
Another thing to bear in mind are the wind patterns where you live. If you live in an open area where the wind only blows from one direction then it would be beneficial to make sure that you place your scented plants up wind so the aromas will float their way to you. It can also be a good tip to try and place scented plants in slightly more sheltered areas in order for their fragrance to not be completely lost in the elements.
4. Where to place your fragrant plants
You want to place some of your fragrant plants near seating or close to where you spend most of your time when in the garden. For us, we would include an array in the borders surrounding the greenhouse. It would be the ideal treat as you walk up to tend to your seedlings, or when you step out of the greenhouse after a couple of hours at work. What you want to be careful of is putting strongly scented plants near your outdoor dining space, perhaps herbs and subtle scents would be best so your dinner parties and barbecues aren’t interrupted by unwelcome overpowering floral smells.
5. Plan for a season of bloom and scents
Take a look at your calendar and plan for special occasions when you want the gardens to look and smell their best, maybe for Mother’s Day or an anniversary party. Use a handy growing calendar like this one from Wine & Country Life to plan out your sowing schedule.
Take a look at the Kew greenhouse collection, some of our custom-made greenhouses or the full range of Alitex accessories.