Good Garden Scents

I’ve been working for several years on a project upstate to control an invasive plant species. The property is an early 19th-century farmstead that was bequeathed to the state, and for several weeks a year I work to control and contain this weed.

Last weekend as I was doing my digging, snipping and spraying I noticed that each time I took a new step my nose was flooded with the aroma of spearmint. I realized that the ground around me was surrounded by this aromatic herb and began to think back to the early 1800s when this farm was started and realized that they probably relied on all kinds of aromatic plants for a host of reasons—not the least of which was to dispel the odors that we now use air fresheners for.Back at home, outside my kitchen, I have a shrub growing that’s known as mockorange or Philadelphus. For most of the year it’s a rather nondescript shrub, but for two to three weeks from late May to early June it fills the air with the unmistakable scent of citrus. It’s also fun to watch unsuspecting plant friends looking for the potted citrus or orange tree that doesn’t exist. The heavily perfumed peonies have just finished and the early spring scents of the hyacinths and the later magnolias have long faded. The mockorange just seems to be a perfect olfactory segue before the heady lilies begin to flower.

Aromatic foliage and flowers that are correctly combined can give you a garden, border or walkway that is pleasing to both the eye and nose for a good part of the year. Many trees, shrubs, perennials and a few annuals are notable for their fragrances. As in the case of mockorange, the aroma can simply be enjoyed by walking past, or a scent can be stimulated by brushing against the plant, while in others cases, including most of the culinary herbs, it is necessary to crush the leaf or stem to appreciate the full fragrance.

Some of these scents are very subtle, such as the chocolate that emanates from the Cosmos astrosanguineus, or chocolate cosmos (and I don’t care what you read, it’s not hardy, but you can dig and save the roots for replanting), while the headiness of many old roses (which present their best scents in the morning from the darker-colored flowers) and their petals can make some teeter on euphoria.

Artemisia arborescence, planted in a sheltered sunny spot, make a charming small, rounded shrub-like plant that can be rounded further or grown as a hedge. Its silvery filigree" leaves are as decorative as they are aromatic, and yellow globose flowers in the terminal leafy panicles bring some additional color in June and July. A note of caution, though, don’t rely on this plant being hardy, as in perennial, until after you’ve been able to overwinter it at least once.

Eucalyptus gunnii, or the Tasmanian cider tree, can also be a problem in the hardiness area, but it grows quite quickly and if potted and moved indoors in the winter may prove to be a viable specimen. Its silver-blue juvenile foliage is often used by flower arrangers. The best way to obtain a regular supply of these aromatic and decorative shoots is by cutting the plant back very hard annually by removing the previous year’s growth close to the base of the plant in early spring before any new growth begins to appear.

An aromatic tree that also lends itself to being shortly cropped for cuttings is Populus x candicans "Aurora," which is often hardy here. The foliage is conspicuously variegated, with the young leaves being a creamy-white often tinged with pink, and it emits a strong aroma of balsam as the leaves unfold in the spring. Older leaves are green, and for the best results the shoots should be hard pruned in late winter.

Laurus nobilis "Aurea," or sweet bay, is also not reliably hardy here, and you may be able to find some more reliable varieties although this variety is just as useful in the kitchen as it is in the garden because of its golden yellow color. It often retains its foliage into the fall and winter.

The pungent to sweet aroma of “catmint” foliage is well known to most gardeners. With narrow, gray-green leaves, Nepeta x faassenii, often sold as Nepeta mussinii, is an invaluable plant for edging and rock walls. Whorled spikes of lavender-mauve flowers are produced from May through September if the fading spikes are removed regularly.

The common rosemary, Rosmarinus officinalis, has been cultivated here since the English arrived, and it has value both as a garden plant when used as a specimen and for its culinary qualities. Stems are thickly covered with narrow green or grayish-green leaves with white undersides, and numerous clusters of blue flowers are carried on the previous year's growth in late May or June. There are a number of attractive cultivars offered which show wide variations in habit and flower color. Small fresh sprigs can be used to flavor the lighter meats and fish or in a garnish. Dried leaves may be crumbled and sprinkled over dishes or used in stuffing.

The young leaves and stems of the purple leaf sage, or Salvia offinalis "Purpurascens," are just as useful in the kitchen as those of the common sage, but are also particularly valuable to the flower arranger for providing blends or contrasts in foliage groups. Bluish-purple flowers are carried in whorled spikes in summer. Fresh or dried leaves are useful in stuffing for pork, chicken and duck.

Santolina chamaecyparissus is an elegant form of the lavender cotton which can make an aromatic dwarf hedge or edging that does especially well in our sandy soils. The silvery leaves are woolly and very finely divided, carried on white felted stems. Bright lemon-yellow, button-like flower heads are borne in late June and July.

The glossy green, drooping foliage of Thuja plicata, the western red cedar, emits a pleasant fruity scent when crushed. This is a splendid, fast-growing evergreen, and the cultivar "Fastigiata" is particularly suitable for hedging or screening. To encourage density, light trimming or pruning should start as soon as the plants are well enough established to make normal growth, usually in the second year.

One of my favorite mid- to late-summer scents comes from the tall garden phlox, or Phlox paniculata. Not only does this plant offer a range of flower colors that can adorn a garden toward the end of the season, but the tall stems make it wonderful for cutting and bringing indoors. A mature plant can easily send up a dozen to 15 stems, so cutting five won’t hurt the display or the plant, and if you have a selection of plants that mature a different times you can have cuts from these garden phlox for as long as six weeks. When cut early in the morning and when only half of the flowers have begun to open, the stems will last for up to a week indoors, offering a perfume not as intense as a heady rose, but still quite nice and adding an aroma to a room that few other flowers can match.

These are but a few of the plants that you might consider for your scents, and there are virtually thousands to choose from. If you want to plan such a garden I suggest you read Rosemary Verey’s classic on the subject, "The Scented Garden," which is available in paperback. Leonard Perry wrote a wonderful leaflet on fragrant perennials—you can view it at http://goo.gl/VuJf9N. Even if you’re not contemplating perennials I think you’ll find the article very interesting. Keep growing.

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