Brian Minter: Fragrance will elevate your garden to the next level
Credit to Author: Tracey Tufnail| Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2019 18:00:48 +0000
As we move into late summer, it should be one of the most enjoyable times in our gardens — a time to truly appreciate the results of all the effort we put into our spring plantings.
Annuals are at their prime, summer perennials are now showing off their diverse, rich colour, and many of the summer flowering shrubs, like hydrangeas and hibiscus, are providing stunning backdrops for all this beauty.
However, at this time of year one element — fragrance — is often missing from far too many gardens. As you sit on your patio or balcony enjoying the colour performance, you should also be appreciating the scents of summer. Fragrance raises a garden to the next level, and without it, I think a garden, large or small, falls short.
Today, we have many choices for fragrant, summer blooming plants that provide continuous perfume, which, in turn, attracts pollinators and butterflies, adding a huge entertainment value.
Buddleias are among the top producers of perfume and long colour performances. Many new varieties are compact and sterile, meaning they do not present the invasive tendencies of the larger, older varieties.
‘Pugster Blue’ is a compact, non-invasive buddleia.
I’m particularly fond of the ‘Pugster’ series (zone 5). Growing only 60 centimetres tall and wide, these short, stubby buddleias have perfumed blooms in white, pink and a soft lavender called ‘Amethyst’. As a bonus, they seem to be the favourites of monarch butterflies.
Other special varieties come from the ‘Miss’ series (zone 5). A little larger at four to five feet tall and wide, they, too, come in a range of colours from white and violet to ruby red. ‘Miss Molly’, with its continuous, rich sangria red blooms, seems to be the go-to gal. ‘Miss Ruby’, an attractive red-pink, won the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit.
The stunning ruby red of Buddleia ‘Miss Molly’ attracts butterflies and bees.
Next year, ‘Grande Cascade, the granddaddy of all the buddleias, will make its debut. It’s sterile but has enormous lavender-purple flower panicles measuring 30 to 35 centimetres long and are 10 centimetres thick.
The large family of daphnes are wonderfully scented, but most varieties bloom only in spring. However, the evergreen ‘Eternal Fragrance’ (zone 5) is appropriately named because it blooms from early spring all through the summer and into the fall. Growing only one metre tall and wide, it is a must-have anywhere near a patio, kitchen or bedroom window where its scent can be appreciated.
Although the well-known Mexican orange blossom (Choisya ternata) is rated zone 7, it will tolerate zone 6 when situated in a protected winter location. It is a beautiful evergreen plant and even its leaves are aromatic. It’s at home in full sun or shade, and I particularly love the golden foliage varieties, ‘Goldfinger’ and ‘Sundance,’ for their vibrant colour all year round.
Calycanthus or sweetshrub (zone 5B) is one of the lesser-known summer charmers. With its shiny foliage and large flowers, it looks for all the world like a magnolia. It grows from 1.5 to 2.5 m tall and wide and is very long blooming. ‘Aphrodite’ is a particularly eye-catching variety. Around midsummer, nicely perfumed burgundy red flowers appear and keep coming for months.
Clethra alnifolia or summersweet (zone 4) is another somewhat overlooked summer jewel. It’s in full bloom right now with long, narrow bottlebrush-like flowers that are loaded with perfume. Depending on the variety, they grow from 1 to 2 metres tall and wide and have stunning yellow fall colour.
‘Ruby Spice’ is a North American native with reddish-pink flowers. Breeders have developed Sugartina ‘Crystalina’, a compact white, and ‘Vanilla Spice’ which has extra large white flowers. Proven Winners has branded these last two clethra varieties, as well as ‘Aphrodite’ calycanthus, and they deserve credit for promoting them to the gardening world.
Clethra’s bottlebrush-like flowers are loaded with perfume.
Most lilacs bloom in spring, but ‘Bloomerang’ (zone 3) is a twice-blooming series of Korean lilacs, and they are now about to bloom for a second time. Growing only 1.2 to 2 metres in height and blooming in shades of purples and pinks, they are very clean and disease resistant. Bloomerang ‘Dwarf Purple’ and ‘Dwarf Pink’ grow only 1 metre tall, making them ideal for containers on sunny patios. Few plants surpass the perfume of lilacs, and what a treat to enjoy that scent a second time.
The most intoxicating perfume of all comes from gardenias. Although still rated as zone 7, the newer outdoor varieties will bloom most of the summer. ‘Frost Proof’, ‘Grif’s Select’ and ‘Kleim’s Hardy’ flower in late spring and repeat bloom in summer. They are, without a doubt, the most powerful perfumers you’ll find. They are smaller plants that will take full, hot sun as well as some shade. Even if they can be enjoyed only for the summer, they are well worth a spot on or near a patio.
Gardenia ‘Kleim’s Hardy’.
There are also perennials like lavender and phlox that provide great summer fragrance. Aromatic rosemary is high on my list of favourite herbs. Fragrant vines, like summer jasmine, honeysuckle and the fall blooming, pure white paniculata clematis, can be trained on a trellis in a container. Roses, like the David Austin and Kordes varieties, have some very enticing perfumes.
These beautiful plants, with their lovely fragrances, will add a touch of magic to your summer garden.
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