When I visited my mom this weekend she put me to work 'dead-heading' her lavender. As I trimmed away the dead blossoms the smell of lavender surrounded me and attracted quite a few bees. It reminded me how important scent is in a garden and what an integral experience it is to losing yourself in the outdoors. In a small space like a balcony or small deck, using plants that give off a scent can make the experience that much richer. Here are 5 of my favorite fragrant plants perfect for a small space:
5 Fragrant Plants for a Small Space
1. Lavender: There are hundreds of varieties of Lavender but we normally go for whatever the nursery has available and what smells the best. It's basically drought tolerant and likes plenty of sun. It's also important to remember to cut off the dead flowers--as you cut them off, the plant will be triggered to produce more! And even the dead blossoms keep their scent, so you can collect a bundle and keep it by your bed.
2.Scented Geranium: This is what I planted (per my mom's suggestion) closest to the seating area on my deck so that anyone sitting close by would be enveloped with the subtle odor that comes from this plant's leaves. Geraniums, in general, are easy to grow and scented ones are no different. They're propogated easily (like succulents, they'll often take just by cutting off a stalk and sticking it in some dirt). Plus there's a huge selection: chocolate, citrus, mint, etc. are all strains you can find in a lot of nurseries.
3. Honeysuckle: Like Jasmine, Honeysuckle is a flowering vine that can give off a powerful odor. Some people find it too strong (for me Jasmine is too strong in the summer and makes me feel kind of light headed) but it's super sweet fragrance and pretty flowers make for a great fence cover or trellis plant near an open window.
4. Gardenias: These I have literally never had any luck with. I buy them, they're flowering, and then they never flower again. Eventually they die. but I know others who have had tremendous success and nothing beats the smell that comes from theose magical white blooms.
5. Mint: Mint is pretty much a magical plant for me. You can eat the leaves, drink the tea made from the leaves and you can't really kill it (plant it in a separate container or away from other plants in the garden). As you brush against it in the garden it releases its scent, as you cut off leaves it releases scent and if you plant it in a place that is on the damp side it will grow like a weed. I like having some by the front door.
Of course there are roses and freesias and jasmine and basil and rosemary, the list goes on and on with plants that have amazing scents. Do you have a favorite?
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For an East Coaster, that jasmine you folks have in California is pretty magical. I can see why it might be overpowering if you were around it all the time, but I love it when I am there.
view Charlotte's profile
Might not be the right kind of groundcover for a porch or patio, but some friends of mine have a little lawn grown entirely of a low, creeping mint. It's AMAZING....it stays green even in really bad drought conditions, and has the most heavenly fresh smell when you walk on it. Makes me wonder why people even plant grass at all.
view brighteyes's profile
Back home in Virginia honeysuckle grew wild everywhere and the scent would just waft along. I loved it and still miss the scent here in California. There were also big huge magnolia trees that smelled amazing. Though here in San Francisco we have lavender, rosemary and the occasional eucalyptus tree.
view miss_z's profile
Lily of the Valley! They can grow in the oddest, smallest spaces and remind me so much of my childhood. My mom always put little jars of lily of the valley in our rooms in the summer.
view annalyssa's profile
Chelsea introduced me to some peonies this past weekend. They have a very nice aroma.
view art's profile
I can't live without basil, thyme and mint :)
view unnecessary::necessaries's profile
Definitely jasmine. When i moved to Oakland from Boston, I couldn't believe the scent that came from jasmine, both the climbing pink kind and the low, shrubby white kind. So many people have it planted near their houses, and they use it as ground cover at UC Berkeley, so I smell it everywhere I go. If I ever move back to the East Coast, this will be one of the things I'll miss the most. Can you grow jasmine in Boston??
view itsakitty's profile
I have honeysuckle all along my backyard fence...they smell lovely but I can't hardly get near it because of bees that are attracted to it, I don't recommend it for a small space.
The only thing keeping me from getting rid of it that it's food for honey bees.
view boxerchick's profile
I'm with Charlotte -- jasmine!
view Laurenwl's profile
I don;t know anything about gardening...I just acquired my first bed at our new townhouse. My MIL helped it rediscover its beauty this weekend and she was on and on (and on and on actually to an annoying point..but that's what MIL's are for, right?) about honeysuckle. But I have to say I love crocus. They remind me of y childhood...whenever I get a whiff of them in the air I know spring is here...summer vacation is coming. I assume they are a bulb? And a perennial? I must have some come up in my bed next year!
view complainypants's profile
I also love wild roses and lilacs. The scent of lilacs in the spring is magical!
view Nolann's profile
Scented geraniums. Can be grown in pots too.
view JoanneM's profile
Complainypants, crocuses are grown from bulbs. My favorite catalog is Scheepers, and they just published their 2009 version this past week. Order in late summer, plant in fall.
view JoanneM's profile
We just planted lavendar in our front yard and I can't wait for it to start blooming and smelling absolutely delicious!
view ellear's profile
All of the above, but the tops is Magnolia--though not for a small space obviously. I wish someone could bottle it, but every version of it I've tried has smelled artificial.
Be careful with honeysuckle--it is a weed that takes over. There is a native honeysuckle in the southeast that is not fragrant but is much prettier in my opinion. It has coral flowers that attract hummingbirds. There are actually several species of native honeysuckle, so check them out for your area before planting the weedy one.
view ValHalla's profile
Is it possible to get lavendar to bloom if you have it in a pot indoors? I have tried this a couple times and have failed...
view jesscon0202's profile
My apartment building is surrounded on 3 sides by jasmine and in the evening it mixes with the ocean breeze and smells great.
My landlord has done a great job with the landscaping. There is a jacaranda in full bloom right now in front and we have purple-blooming Mexican sage that attracts hummingbrids. In the back are yellow-flowering shrubs and an avocado tree.
view llj71's profile
Nicotiana!
it only really gives off scent in the evening, but it's one of the loveliest floral scents along with my roses and peonies.
view rouquinne's profile
Peonies and lilacs need chills, so they're not SoCal plants. I think lavender in pot is hard--it really need a biggish pot, and a lot of sun to be at its best.
Gardenias in pots are too fussy, I think. But scented geraniums (and there's many varieties with different scents) are great in pots.
view FantasticMrFaux's profile
Charlotte and itsakitty, I have a thriving jasmine plant that I have successfully kept for the past three years on a Chicago windowsill. They just need sun and a lot of water.
view Mlle. Cara's profile
I just scanned the Hot Posts titles, and I thought this one was all about Fragrant Pants. I don't know if I'm relieved or disappointed.
On topic, in Western Canada, we rely heavily on lilacs and flowering fruit trees for our purty scents. Mmmmm, lilacs.
view nickety's profile
Lot of great suggestions here.
My parents had a large mock orange shrub near the swimming pool... The comingling of that delicious mock orange fragrance and chlorine causes me to revert to a sullen adolescent. :)
view Splomo's profile