Sweet smelling plants always add extra enjoyment to any kind of garden. Even if you only have space for one tiny pot on a balcony or window-box, make it a scented plant. The fragrance will travel on the breeze through warm air; so plant them where you can enjoy the natural perfume while sipping your morning cuppa or relaxing with an evening drink.
Gardenias have deep green glossy leaves and creamy-white flowers, usually double (with more than one row of petals). This makes them sought after as indoor plants and gift plants; the most well-known variety is probably Florida which you will often see gift-wrapped in fancy florist shops.
Some gardenias such as Radicans, O So Fine™ and Grandiflora Star are low-growing, spreading in habit, and make excellent ground-cover plants. Others - Golden Magic and Magnifica in particular - can be left to grow into tall hedges. All gardenia flowers are beautiful, and we usually have a good range of choice in stock - along with Randia, the native gardenia, which is distantly related.
Don't forget annual flowers When thinking about the best garden plants for scent, there's phlox and stocks, the peppery scent of carnation, pinks and wallflower, and of course, the incomparable sweet peas. We carry heaps of different colours of sweet pea ready for you to sow and grow.
What's your favourite garden scent?
Australian Plants Online has many scented plants suitable for all kinds of garden. Which plants are best for scent? That depends on your preference! Here are some of our favourites.
Glamorous Gardenia
One of our favourite scented flowers is the gardenia, which has a powerful, sweet scent very popular with the perfume industry.Gardenias have deep green glossy leaves and creamy-white flowers, usually double (with more than one row of petals). This makes them sought after as indoor plants and gift plants; the most well-known variety is probably Florida which you will often see gift-wrapped in fancy florist shops.
Some gardenias such as Radicans, O So Fine™ and Grandiflora Star are low-growing, spreading in habit, and make excellent ground-cover plants. Others - Golden Magic and Magnifica in particular - can be left to grow into tall hedges. All gardenia flowers are beautiful, and we usually have a good range of choice in stock - along with Randia, the native gardenia, which is distantly related.
Popular for a reason
The most popular scented shrub with our gardeners is Murraya, and we offer three kinds. The best-selling mock orange has clusters of small white sweet-scented flowers with a powerful perfume, and glossy dark leaves, which makes a lovely dense tall privacy hedge. Murraya ‘Min a Min’, a specially-bred compact low-growing form, has small dainty bright-green leaves, rounded at the tip, and sweet-smelling white flowers. Hip High is slightly larger all round than Min a Min, with all the same good qualities. Both make excellent hedges in frost-free gardens.
Vines and Climbers
If you have little space in your garden, then why not grow up instead of out? Vines and climbers will give you living colour and natural fragrance without taking up too much room. Trachelospermum or chinese star jasmine is the smell of spring and summer here in QLD, surprisingly cold-hardy, and a very popular and versatile plant. jasmine (Jasminum polyanthum), and Arabian Jasmine and sambac (Jasminum nitidum) all have highly-fragrant white flowers, and can be trained against trellises and over fences, grown through trees and shrubs, or clipped into a loose hedge.
Fragrant Shrubs
For larger gardens with enough space for a large privacy hedge, why not plant the beautiful and softly-scented Magnolia Little Gem? Its large dark leaves with tan undersides are very handsome, and a striking backdrop to the all-year-round flowers. For more fragrant impact michelia or port wine magnolia (Michelia) has glossy dark leaves and pretty white flowers; smaller than Little Gem but packing an alluring scent of bubble-gum! We have Bubbles, Coco, Mixed Up Miss and figo varieties of Michelia through the year. If you like a honey scent, yesterday today tomorrow (Brunfelsia) flowers for most of the warm months, comes in large and small mature sizes, and gives you a very pretty palette of pastel purple as well as a sweet smell.
Native fragrance
Native gardens can include perfume for our own enjoyment, and attract native wildlife for us to enjoy as well. The native frangipani (Hymenosporum) Is a useful and attractive tree for small gardens, with glossy leaves, neat slender habit, and generous amounts of rich gold scented flowers in late spring-early summer. The ivory curl tree (Buckinghamia) grows into an impressive yet manageably-sized tree with abundant hanging tails of cream flowers, very distinctive in full bloom.
Leaves can smell nice too
Native Leptospermum liversidgei Mozzie Blocker will help keep those pesky midges away as well as smelling fresh and lemony. Even more zesty and lemony is lemon gum which will scent the breeze on a warm afternoon. It's going to grow large so site it appropriately or keep it regularly coppiced. Exotic shrubs can be aromatic - think of those Mediterranean favourites rosemary, lavender and herbs like mint, thyme and oregano. We've got French, English, and Italian lavender, and occasionally pink and white flowering too; plus several different kinds of rosemary plants. Warm sun releases their essential oils, helping you relax while you enjoy your outdoor space.
Don't forget annual flowers When thinking about the best garden plants for scent, there's phlox and stocks, the peppery scent of carnation, pinks and wallflower, and of course, the incomparable sweet peas. We carry heaps of different colours of sweet pea ready for you to sow and grow.
What's your favourite garden scent?
