Love Phlomis, Al! My sis has several different varieties of Phlomis in her yard, and it is always so spectacular in bloom. I didn't realize they had a scent either. I'm going to have to add a few to my front slope. Very pretty!

Patty S.

I've always thought phlomis was a great looking flower. I wish I had the right site for them. Interesting that it had a fragrance - that's something missing from so many plants these days.

I've had my eye on Phlomis fruticosa ever since I first saw it in the High Country Gardens catalog. I think it's time to find a place for it... I wonder how it will like our rich amended clay soil.

Yours looks really beautiful. It is really something when it is grown well.

Yes, indeed! Phlomis fruticosa is greatly scented! I have 3 and the oldest has been in the ground for 10 years or so and I've just finally found two seedlings from it. The seedlings are growing very quickly also....

Wow. Consider me enabled, Al. This is the time of year when I start to get increasingly desperate for flowers that are not Compositae. A ring of petals around a center -- be it gold or black or whatever -- is okay, but let's hear it for variety! And phlomis certainly fills the bill. Can you describe the fragrance?
Kay

To describe a fragrance is to compare it to another. Have you ever been down wind of a lilac when a puff of wind enveloped you in fragrance? Or maybe a sweet olive or Osmanthus fragrans? With the Phlomis I never have noticed any fragrance in the garden. I have the impression that the flower releases a burst of fragrance in the dark of the night, perhaps to attract moths. Al

Interesting, my hammock is 10 feet from my Jerusalem sage and I've never noticed a scent. I'll have to check it again some night when the weather warms. I've seen it used with Lepechina fragrans before to good effect, same with Salvia microphylla, but either of those would overwhelm any fragrance.

It's fragrant in the daytime. Very Sweet. Fills the air. Mine are located a ways from the house so I've not been out there to notice if there's scent in the evenings.

Lovely; I've seen pictures of this plant, but never knew its name, thanks!

It's also a very tough plant, very drought tolerant. Much to recommend it.