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So alive, stunning, varied, colourful, aesthetically pleasing and sometimes strange, flowers and plants have the power to seduce and hypnotize us. They're ready for the taking, waiting to test our imaginations; we can recreate the garden of our dreams, to help us bring back memories and keep them from fading. As we know, olfactory memories are among the longest lasting in our minds. |
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Nature, in all its lush abundance, expresses itself through this garden that lets your emotions run wild and evokes your most precious memories. Flowers and aromatic herbs speak their own special language, the language of scent. |
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Aromatic Foliage | |
Let yourself be tempted by aromatic foliage. The leaves of these plants give off their perfume when warmed by the sun or when they rustle in the wind or if you rub against them. These plants are ideal in sunny locations, along walkways or in planters... anywhere close at hand. They go well between patio stones, giving off their scent at they are trod upon. |
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Fragrant Flowers |
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Some places are more suitable than others for growing a fragrant garden. Huge bouquets of peonies with their heady fragrance or the more modest sprigs of fresh scented lily-of-the-valley are just a couple of the fragrant experiences you can derive from your garden.
You can pick a whole bouquet of lingering fragrances. There is such a vast choice of fragrant flowers... something for everyone at any time of the summer.
You are more apt to catch a wafting fragrance where it is warm and humid with a light breeze, rather than on a windy corner. Somewhere protected from the wind like near a hedge, a wind screen or a fence would be ideal.
Some scents are very subtle and you have to be very close to the plant to catch the fragrance. So these types of plants are best near the house where people pass close by.
On the other hand, some plants have a much more pronounced fragrance and they are best kept farther from the house to lighten the intensity of their scent. Also, don't plant too many strongly scented varieties in a small garden where the space is rather closed in - the effect could be disagreeably overwhelming.
It is also a good idea to keep in mind the flowering period of your fragrant plants and instead of having everything come into bloom at the same time, try and spread them out over the summer. That way every moment of the summer will have its own easily-recognizable fragrance. |
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Using Fragrant Plants |
Many flowers and plants are particularly appreciated for their unique smells: caraway, the basil family, chives, fennel, scented geranium, lavender, marjoram, the mint family, monarda (aromatic mint), oregano and thyme.
- Perfume your front door with trumpet-flower lilies or fragrant roses.
- Put pots of scented geraniums along walkways so that the scent is released as people rub against them.
- Place potted aromatic herbs on your kitchen windowsill.
- Let the fragrance of a mock orange waft through a bedroom window.
- Liven up the front of the house with a flowering crab.
- Have sweet peas climbing up a fence.
- Tread on a carpet of thyme or rub against a fraxinella, or crush a few leaves of silver mound between your fingers as you walk around your garden.
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Scented Gardens... Creating vivid memories |
1. Nicotina
2. Peony
3. Russian sage
4. Mock orange
5. Bee balm
6. Lily
7. Artemesia
8. Pinks
9. Herbs
10. Thyme
11. Daphne
12. Alyssum
13. Petunia
14. Grafted lilac
15. Bearded iris |
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Plants with Aromatic Leaves
| Plants with Fragrant Flowers | Annual and Biannual Flowers | Perennial Flowers | bee balm
eucalyptus
fraxinella
herbs
lavender
lemon verbena
Mexican
giant hyssop
mint
pineapple sage
Russian sage
santolina
scented geranium
silver mound
thyme | Trees and Shrubs:
butterfly bush
cherry
daphne
false acacia
flowering crabapple
lilac
linden
magnolia
mock orange
Oregon grape
pear
rose
Russian olive
viburnum | alyssum
heliotrope
mignonette
nicotiana
petunia
stock
sweet pea | black snakeroot
carnation
daylily (certain varieties)
lily-of-the-valley
meadowsweet
peony
sweet violet
trumpet flower lily |
| Perennial Bulbs | Annual Bulbs | hyacinth
daffodil (certain varieties)
tulip (certain varieties) | Abyssinian gladiolus
Peruvian daffodil |
Day or night? | |
Some plants are more fragrant in the evening, so check this out before you buy. For example, if you are away all day and enjoy your garden mostly in the evening, then you will probably want more plants that are fragrant in the evening. Your gardening experts can advise you. Here's some evening fragrances: Abyssinian gladiolus, four o'clock flower, 'Evening Fragrance' angel's trumpet, nicotiana. |
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