Most gardens have vertical boundaries of some sort. They might be fences, trellis or walls and these are the perfect places to add a few more plants. Plants that clamber can quickly clothe a support network. Choose plants with perfumed flowers and you add a whole new layer of interest that will enhance your plot with scent. It’s a simple but powerful way to make huge changes to your garden.
Some fragrant climbers, like sweet peas can be sown and grown from seed. A couple of packets of sweetpea seeds sown in autumn will clothe a few wigwams of bean poles with masses of flowers next summer. Choose highly fragrant varieties, look out for Lathyrus odoratus cultivars such as ‘Matucana’ and the older, heirloom grandiflora types. Sweet peas generate masses of cut flowers for indoor arrangements, allowing you to bring the perfume indoors. Other perfumed annual climbers, that can be grown from seed include the cup and saucer vine (Cobaea scandens) and some Morning Glory like the Moon flower (Ipomoea alba) with strongly scented flowers that open at dusk.
For scented flowers year after year, invest in shrubs or climbing perennials that once established will fill your garden with fragrance, beauty and grace for the price of a bottle or two of wine.
Perfumed roses
A summer garden isn’t complete without roses. But if you think that you haven’t got room for more roses, maybe you’ve forgotten about the walls of your home. Pretty much everyone’s dream home has roses around the door and honestly there is nothing stopping you from growing roses up any vertical support. It needs to be strong to take the weight, so a wall is ideal. Your choice of roses will totally depend on your own preferences. There are ramblers and climbers, both grow vertically and are great for clothing walls, pergolas and arches. If you want a yellow form then maybe Rosa ‘Bathsheba’ will fit the bill with its fragrant apricot yellow flowers. For rich pink flowers, with exquisite old rose scent, Rosa ‘Gertrude Jekyll’ is a good choice. Spend some time doing your research. Visit some rose gardens to smell the roses and choose the ones that lift your spirits as you inhale the fragrance.
Sweet smelling jasmine
Jasmine flowers smell divine. You might be familiar with the beautiful white, scented flowers of Jasmine. There are two white forms, an evergreen star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides) which isn’t strictly a jasmine, but looks like one and the common jasmine (Jasminum officinale) which is deciduous and unlike star jasmine it’s reliably hardy. Their night scent and long tubular flowers feed the night flying moths and are ideal for a moon garden.
But did you know there’s a deep pink jasmine flower, on plants of Jasminum beesianum, also known as bees jasmine for a very good reason. It’s deep pink flowers are fragrant and rich in nectar and an excellent food plant for foraging bumblebees. Be warned though, it’s very vigorous, semi evergreen and fully hardy. It grows so dense in my garden that the birds nest in it and it is always buzzing with bees when in flower.
Fragrant honeysuckle
Honeysuckle is the perfect plant to weave into an existing hedge and a great way to add fragrance to the garden. The wild honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum) is a native wildflower that has evolved with our night flying moths. They are attracted to the intense night-time perfume exuded from the flowers and visit for the deep, nectar rich flowers where they can safely and efficiently feed.
If you want something a bit more dramatic, consider the golden orange yellow flowers of Goldflame Honeysuckle (Lonicera × heckrottii ‘Gold Flame’), which is fully hardy, thrives in sun or shade and has strongly scented flowers.
Scented wisteria
If you’ve only admired wisteria from afar, you might be surprised to know that most forms are highly scented. It’s a dramatic and elegant climber that will add a permanent layer of wonder to a house wall, or pergola. Wisteria can be vigorous, and usually needs a strong support or a large wall to take their weight as they clamber aloft skywards. Most forms are mauve or white, though there is a pink form too. They are all fragrant and are usually buzzing with bumblebees, foraging inside the nectar rich flowers.
Before you choose a wisteria, you need to think about where you are going to plant it. There is a compact form called ‘Amethyst Falls’ with scented flowers, which can be grown in a large container.
Aromatic clematis
Not all clematis are scented, but those that are have a rich perfume. Many of the early flowering clematis montana clothe walls and fences with fragrant flowers. Once planted and established a clematis will expand its territory and flower abundantly. Another clematis with rich scent is Clematis ‘Sweet Scentsation’, the name is a good indication that this one is very fragrant. For early spring clematis scent, Clematis armandii is a good choice. But there are a few others, like Clematis terniflora which flowers in late summer, early autumn, with simple white scented flowers.
