Fragrance is so nice in a garden — add some this year
By Lorraine Kiefer
This year when I made prom bouquets I often went out in the nursery or my garden to pick a fragrant rose, lily of the valley or gardenia. I really like fragrant blooms and feel they should be picked to be enjoyed on tables in the house or in bouquets or corsages.
Not all fragrances are created equal. As you may have noticed not all roses are fragrant. I love the hybrid teas as well as some of the old fashion climbers and other fragrant roses. The hybrid teas may need a spray of natural neem oil to keep fungus and black spot away, but it is well worth this effort. Grow them in a rich or supplemented soil in a sunny spot and you will enjoy them all season. It is so worth mixing in a bag or bucket of compost with the existing soil when you plant one. Give it a generous dose of osmocote time release fertilizer and a light mulch. Plan to soak the ground not the foliage with a deep watering about twice a week. This is all you have to do. Sun, food, water = big fragrant blooms.
You should smell the bloom if you are not sure about the fragrance before you plant. Some tags tell you that the plant is fragrant, this is usually reliable too.
Right now beautiful swamp magnolia are in bloom. These fill the garden with their wonderful scent. I love them. Plant one of these near a porch or window so you can enjoy them. Sun or part shade and a very generous watering twice a week until established. We have these in the swamp across the creek, but also have more than a dozen around on the property. Most were just here. They take well to most gardens when planted now and kept watered the first year.
A fragrant plant that is intoxicating to both you and the butterflies is the Buddleia davidii commonly called butterfly bush. Dead head it and it will bloom profusely all season. Another fragrant plant that is intoxicating to both you and the butterflies is the Buddleia davidii commonly called butterfly bush. Dead head it and it will bloom profusely all season I love the way butterflies and hummingbirds flock to these easy to grow shrubs. Cut them back often, feed with a time release bloom food such as the "green lid" osmocote in spring and enjoy them. Plant one near a porch or patio for fragrance all the time and the fun of watching butterflies.
There are many fragrant herbs that will both perfume the air and add fragrance to you garden. Lavender and rosemary are awsome when the fragrant foliage is touched, but on hot days their oils often are released into the air. Scented geraniums are also nice and are said to keep mosquitos away. Plant them along walkways where they will be brushed by walkers and and also group pots where people will sit and also brush them on a deck or porch
Clethra is a fragrant swamp plant that grows well near the swamp magnolia. It begins to bloom in early July about when the magnolia stops. I love them both and have lots in the yard as well as natives in the swamp across the creek.
Most people do not realize that a hardy gardenia can be planted outside in a protected spot and it will live year round. I love gardenias. Whenever I pass the hardy gardenia plants in the nursery I have to stop to smell them or pick one.They are truly one of my favorite scents. I have a beautiful bloom on our kitchen table right now. I had these fragrant, romantic flowers in my August wedding bouquet over 50 years ago. When I stop to sniff the gardenia plants in the nursery I often pick a few to add to the wedding bouquets or arrangements that I am making for customers. Most people do not realize that these hardy gardenia can be planted outside in a protected spot and will live year round. If given a good time release fertilizer and watered often they will bloom all summer. There are hardy and there are tender gardenia, the hardy will grow outside all year long and the tender must be brought in. You can plant some hardy ones now so they will establish prior to winter.
Fragrance is so nice in a garden, add some this year.
Lorraine Kiefer is the owner and operator of Triple Oaks Nursery in Franklinville. She can also be reached by e-mail at Lorraine@tripleoaks.