Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => General Forum => Topic started by: vanozzi on October 06, 2009, 06:22:38 AM
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Of the many things that I enjoy about a garden, scent rates highly.
Daphne Odora seeks me out during the bleakest of winters, Jasminum polyanthum eventually overpowers me in late winter/spring, freesias I would not be without and who could resist brown boronia.I can remember, as a small boy, the boronia sellers, with baskets overflowing, selling boronia sprigs in the city of Perth (WA).
And flowering now, on my patio,filling the air with its intoxicating aroma is one of my favourite scented plants, Michelia Figo (Port-wine magnolia).The scent is most noticeable in late afternoon/evening, some say of pineapples, even bananas, but to me it reminds me of that old sweet bubblegum that we had as kids.Tiny flowers packed with a powerful wonderful scent.
What are some of your favourite scented plants? :)
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Sorry Dude, port wine magnolias make me gag! :-X I agree with the rest though.
Add to the list certain Viburnums. Brown Boronia would be my favourite perfume, at least that immediately springs to mind. Daphne bhuloa smells like Viburnum carlesii, but much earlier in the season. As you say, Freesias are glorious as well, and I love the smell of our massive Magnolia soulangeana when in full flower (ours is one of the scented ones thankfully, many of them aren't). Wisteria is lovely when it first starts, but once it is fully out there is a bit much of the perfume to really enjoy it. ::)
Actually, one thing I used to love the perfume of was Clematis tangutica. I had it for years and it smelt of coconut suntan oil..... every time I smelt it I always thought of the beach. I lost it a few years ago unfortunately, and I have only ever seen it available the one time I bought it, around 13 years ago.
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Actually, one thing I used to love the perfume of was Clematis tangutica. I had it for years and it smelt of coconut suntan oil.....
Easy to grow from seed, first year flowering, but I have never tried sniffing it.
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Right now I'm really enjoying the delicious candy-floss scent of the yellowing autumn leaves of Cercidiphyllum japonicum. I know it's a big tree eventually, but I planted two anyway, one by our front path in the middle of an exisiting hedge to slow its growth down. The sweet sugary smell of the leaves is amazing, and the colour's not bad either.
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I'm with Paul re the Michelia, a wonderful scent and with Martin with the cercidiphyllum. At present, the best scent in the garden is from Tilia henryana, a lime which is in flower at the moment.
Paddy
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OK, obviously it is just my wife and I that find the Michelia scent nauseating! ::) I always knew I was special. ;D ;D ;)
David,
I didn't realise it would flower that quickly from seed. Then again, I've never seen seed of it (nor gone in search of it either I might add). I found the original plant at a local nursery that used to specialise in interesting plants many years ago.
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At present, the best scent in the garden is from Tilia henryana, a lime which is in flower at the moment.
Paddy
Lime blossom is one of my very favourite flower scents, and one of my wife's too (for the scent and for it being the 'national tree' of her home country, Slovakia). The scent must be especially strong and pervasive in the cooler and damper autumn air, compared to the summer flowers. Is autumn flowering the norm for this species? Or just a late flush of flowers?
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I agree with Paul, I had a port wine magnolia planted at the front of the house in Oz. When it flowered the smell made me feel sick and the tree was around 12foot in height so lots of flowers.
Can't handle the smell of common jasmine either, it gives me a headache.
The loveliest scents in my garden were honeysuckle, freesias, daphne , roses, viburnums, murraya paniculata,( can be very sickly though) lime and lemon trees ( unfortunately mine attracted huge stinkbugs), philadelphus's my favourite for fragrance but grew huge was philadelphus mexicanus. The other not to be without Osmanthus fragrans.
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Out in the garden: Iris 'Jane Phillips' plus assorted Daphne.
Under glass: Conophytum angelicae ssp tetragonum (look it up). Also an unnamed pink oxalis species from South Africa & Thelymitra 'Sleeping Beauty'.
In a frame and my favourite scented plant of all: Primula reidii
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English Lavender by the path so you brush against it as you walk along and know that bees and butterflies share the same feeling :D
Native Honeysuckles over a gate arch as you pass through......
Narcissus and this year Narcissus poeticus in the meadows above Montreux - I couldn't leave the smell was so wonderful in the late afternoon!
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Martin,
Tilia henryana is an autumn flowering lime, in full flower at present and the flowers, though obvious, are not showy.
Robin, you remind me - with your brushing past lavender - of how I enjoy catmint and lemon balm for the same reason. Lemon balm has been banned from the garden by the head gardener because of its spreading habit. It now grows on the roadside outside our house so that I can still kick it when walking by.
Paddy
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I do empathise with the 'Head Gardener' as lemon balm does seed itself profusely but I love it too and it makes an excellent lemon tea or addition to a hot bath after gardening all day 8)
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I think my favourite scents are Pelegonium triste and Gladiolus tristus. I bought the pelegonium this spring and the scent filled the whole house.
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I personally think scent is a very important element to any garden. Convallaria, hamamelis, daphnes, common white jasmine, et al are the backbone of that element in mine. But the one scent that gives me most pleasure is that of Cyclamen hederifolium, a delicate scent very much like convallaria, but one that drifts on the air under some climatic conditions. It's very faint, and you can never pinpoint which of many cyclamen is producing it, but oh my!
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Oh yes, all of the above and add lemon verbena and dozens of other trees. I also love the spicy scent of many small rhododendron leaves and many alpines have lesser but subtle perfumes. I always sniff flowers on a new plant and am often surprised and delighted. Oxalis lobata, for instance is deliciously scented. My most favourite scent of all though is Philadelphus 'Belle Etoile.' Sometimes I DREAM this scent and wake with it still in my nose. Then there's the lovely vanilla-scented Azara (is it microphylla or lanceolata?) which grows behind large Cupressus macrocarpa and so I never see it but come early spring and just for a week or so, the whole garden is filled with the scent. And also many primulas, and have you noticed that the roots of Phlox subulata vars smell of celery?
You've started something here, Paul. :D
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Rodger, I love the scent of Cyclamen hederifolium but have found the small white flowered one has the strongest scent.
To me, the scent of clematis betty corning is very similar as well as several of my integrifolia seedlings.
Lesley, lemon verbena is another of my favourites, also the lemon scented geranium, I like to keep one of those inside the house for winter so I can brush my hand over it when I pass.
Rosemary is another I winter indoors and love to touch as I walk by.
It's also very handy to have for cooking too.
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Lesley,
Mary and I argued over a description for the scent of Azara earlier in the summer. She went with vanilla while I feel it is more of chocolate. We later read a magazine article where it was described as "vanilla/chocolate". It's a nice scent however one describes it. We grow Azara microphylla variegata.
Paddy
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I said vanilla Paddy because that's how the scent is always described in catalogues or books. I'm inclined to think vanilla ice-cream, though yes, there is a hint of chocolate too. All a matter of perception I suppose, or, more likely, association. A scent in passing can take one right back to one's childhood they way the sight of something does not.
The variegated Azara is a lovely thing. I had it in a previous garden and regret not taking cuttings before I left. I may have had the only one in NZ as I imported it from Spinners Nursery in Dorset, in 1981. I've never seen it elsewhere in NZ.
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I have a small flowered "florist" Cyclamen (i.e a smaller, more species style of Cyclamen persicum) that has a strong and spicy scent. Has been flowering prolifically this spring, and when we had it on display at Floriade over the weekend (the Hort Soceity had a display in one of the Marque at Floriade) everyone was amazed at the perfume. It was one of the reasons I originally bought it a few years ago.... although that was mainly for the lovely white to pale pink flowers with the magenta edge. 8)
I see that Lesley has already mentioned the Lemon Verbena as well....... I just love brushing my hands through the leaves to release the smell. Dried leaves keep their scent for a LONG time as well, you just need to brush them lightly to release it. No need to crush or anything like that, just brush the surface lightly.
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Acidanthera (Gladiolus murielae) is a welcome aroma in my B.C. garden right now.
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I'm getting quite worried about my olufactory systems I've never detected a scent on my Gladiolus murielae :-[
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I'm getting quite worried about my olufactory systems I've never detected a scent on my Gladiolus murielae :-[
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David - if they are like some other glads, they may only be scented at the times to attract their pollinators - some moth pollinated species like G tristus are only scented at night. i'm not sure about g murielae - guess you may just have to go and have a sniff at regular intervals over the next 24 hours!! ;D ;D ;D
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I'm getting quite worried about my olufactory systems I've never detected a scent on my Gladiolus murielae :-[
David, I find the scent of this plant quite feint in my garden - perhaps not sunny enough - and I had to stick my nose right into the flower to get the scent. But it wast worth the effort as to me it is the scent of a tropical paradise and I had to inhale it every time I walked down the garden in this rather miserable summer! I think it is similar to the scent of Chlidanthus fragrans which I was lucky enough to get a flower of this year. If anyone knows any other flowers with this scent I would be pleased to know about them.
I have a Clematis montana, which I think is Grandiflora, growing up a holly tree that has a lovely vanilla scent. Also a large and very prickly green-leafed Berberis with yellow flowers that can scent the whole garden on a warm spring day.
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I see that Lesley has already mentioned the Lemon Verbena as well....... I just love brushing my hands through the leaves to release the smell. Dried leaves keep their scent for a LONG time as well, you just need to brush them lightly to release it. No need to crush or anything like that, just brush the surface lightly.
The dried leaves make a very nice tea too.
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David, I too am worried about your olfactory sense as you've mentioned a number of times you couldn't small something which I find very scented. I suggest you test your smellability by buying (if you don't already grow), a couple of the more spectacular Arum species. I'd bet you'd smell those all right. Darren Sleep describes one superbly in that thread. If you can't smell them, then I'm afraid there's no hope for you at all. ;D
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No, not in the Arum thread. I'll find it shortly, unless it wasn't an Arum and it wasn't Darren. Help me Maggi!
edit by Maggi: a search reveals that the Forum is scattered with references to the stinky, rather than scented, properties of Arum and other aroids.... rotting flesh is the most popular ( polite) description ::)
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Lesley,I didn't realize that Polyxena longituba was scented until you mentioned it. I checked it today and sure enough it is beautifully scented, although one has to be fairly close to the flower to get the smell.
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David, I too am worried about your olfactory sense as you've mentioned a number of times you couldn't small something which I find very scented. I suggest you test your smellability by buying (if you don't already grow), a couple of the more spectacular Arum species. I'd bet you'd smell those all right. Darren Sleep describes one superbly in that thread. If you can't smell them, then I'm afraid there's no hope for you at all. ;D
I thnk I'll just take his word for it Lesley, and yours! ;D
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Aw, David. Where's your scents of adventure!! ;D ;)