A fragrant garden is a garden filled with romantic charm. It’s where the scent of flowers and foliage can evoke childhood memories, faraway places, seaside walks, bushveld holidays, fresh spring mornings and sensual summer evenings.
In our high-tech visual age, we experience our environment through the senses of sight and sound. However, since the times of Cleopatra and before, fragrance has been regarded as the ultimate aphrodisiac.
Fragrances are floral, woody, aromatic, sharp, sweet, spicy or pungent and evoke different feelings and moods.
Scented species were traditionally planted outside bedroom windows or in warm courtyards. People studied what time of day and at what temperature fragrances would be released. They marvelled at how freely fragrances drifted over great distances and how a plant may need to be touched or bruised before it released aroma.
Today, gardening with fragrant plants is still enormously rewarding. Now is the time to revel in a little romance and plan a fragrant garden. Consider these landscaping tips before you begin:
* A sheltered garden will always retain scent longer than a more exposed site.
* Too many scents in one place can be confusing and overpowering. Some scents are stronger than others. Place fragrant plants at strategic points around the garden and use non-fragrant plants to intermingle and separate the smells.
* Scented perennials are the Cinderellas in the world of fragrance but unlike annuals that grow, flower and die in a year, perennials return each year to delight and decorate our gardens. Try scented pelargoniums, tulbaghia, lemon balm and lavender.
* Make sure there is a comfortable bench in your garden, a place where perfume scents the air, where you can relax, close your eyes and daydream.
* Position containers of scented plants near entrances and windows to welcome visitors and allow the perfume to drift indoors.
* Plant fragrant plants beside a bedroom window or near a patio.
* Pots of scented flowers on patios and paved areas add to the enjoyment of sitting outside; the aromatic foliage of sage, thyme and mint near braai areas will whet the appetite.
* Water the garden well just before sunset as moisture in the atmosphere increases the impact of the fragrance.
* Many of the powerfully scented plants have white flowers. Place them near a patio and watch them glow in the fading light of dusk on warm summer evenings.
Indigenous fragrance
If you would like to introduce fragrant indigenous plants to your garden, consider the wild rosemary (Eriocephalus africanus), family of buchus (including Agathosma crenulata) and wild gardenia (Gardenia thunbergia).
The oak-leafed pelargonium (Pelargonium quercifolium) has a strongly balm scented foliage while golden sage (Salvia africana-lutea) and Helichrysum petiolare have strongly fragrant foliage.
Heaven-scent shrubs
The most famously scented exotic shrubs in the garden are a must for any romantic gardener.
Yesterday, today and tomorrow (Brunfelsia pauciflora ‘‘Floribunda’’) is not only the theme of the Cancer Association of South Africa’s 80th Anniversary celebrations this year, but is also a free-flowering fragrant semi-hardy 2m-high evergreen shrub best planted in an east-facing border.
Gardenias (Gardenia augusta) bear masses of large, sweetly fragrant, creamy-white flowers all summer, while the moonflower (Brugmansia x candida) is the star performer of the night-scented plants. The huge trumpet-shaped blooms make a magnificent sight during summer. Moonflowers are highly poisonous and gardeners with young children may choose to postpone planting them.
Romantic roses
Not all roses are fragrant. Roses with delicate soft petals are more able to release their fragrance than those which have tougher, longer lasting petals. Likewise, the more petals a fragrant rose has, the greater the scent given off by the flower. If you are looking for fragrant roses, plant an ‘‘English Rose’’ or hybrid tea classics such as ‘‘Oklahoma’’, ‘‘Alec’s Red’’ and ‘‘Double Delight’’. Yellow ‘‘Freesia’’ and red ‘‘Bavaria’’ are two of the most fragrant floribundas.
The best fragrant climbing roses are ‘‘Compassion’’, ‘‘Crimson Glory’’ and ‘‘Sutter’s Gold’’. - Saturday Star