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can a garden have too many fragrant flowers?
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Posted by bobeckclan 5, near saratoga NY (My Page) on Fri, Nov 24, 06 at 15:04
| I am in the process of designing gardens around our home where we will also be hosting outdoor weddings (I hope). I personally love extremely fragrant flowers (roses, lilies, etc.) and am planning on using primarily fragrant varieties in the gardens.But then I read a comment (elsewhere) from someone urging against planting too many fragrant flowers, so as not to overwhelm the senses. If I were only planting for myself (as I've done in the past), I wouldn't care about this and would forge ahead with everything being fragrant. But since we plan on hosting weddings, I do want to be more aware of design issues this time, so that I can create an area that is attractive to many people (at all sensory levels I guess!). I would like to hear your opinions as to whether or not I should be concerned about overplanting fragrant flowers? And any other thoughts you have about the design issues connected with fragrance in a garden. By the way, this is on a three and a half acre lot, with most of the gardens being located near the house. Thanks! |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: can a garden have too many fragrant flowers?
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No you shouldn't be afraid of that. I've got my property filled with fragrant plants and if they all bloomed at the same time it might be overwhelming ... but they don't. My senses have never been overwhelmed except when the night blooming jasmine is in bloom. It is TOO fragrant!
As far as roses go, there is nothing better than pulling up to a rose garden and being able to smell it from a distance. Lots of people comment on the fragrance of my roses as they step into the rose garden but it is never negative! I have an aunt who is really sensitive to smells, but even she loves the smell of the roses in the air.
My wedding was held in my rose garden this fall and the fragrance of the roses made the event extra special. That's something you can't get in a church! I tried really hard to time the wedding so that the roses, sweet olives, and banana shrubs were all blooming at the same time. That is my idea of heaven but it could only happen late in the fall. The timing didn't work out, only the roses were blooming hard enough to smell, but it was still wonderful.
The problem I would have in designing a fragrant garden to be used for weddings is that many of my most fragrant plants are not attractive. This may not be a problem for you, because the ones I am thinking of aren't hardy up there.
I hope this helps. I've read the comment about too many fragrant plants before in a book, and all I can say is that the author must be imagining all of those plants blooming at once and what an overload of fragrance it would be. I can tell you from experience, though, that at least here it is impossible to do, even in the summer months. To stress my point, let me tell you that I have 36 sweet olives, 15 eleagnus, over 100 roses, 10 banana shrubs, abelias, sweet autumn clematis, daphnes, wisteria, mahonias, winter honeysuckles, winter sweets, clethras, daturas, jasmines, magnolias, and lots of others I can't think of right now... if it's fragrant and grows here then I've got it and too much fragrance has never been a problem.
Carrie |
RE: can a garden have too many fragrant flowers?
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| Carrie, Thanks for the encouragement. Your garden sounds wonderful! Also, congratulations on your recent wedding! I bet it was truly lovely and wonderful! |
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