Any kind of citrus tree and Pittisporum - both fill the whole backyard with a wonderful, light, flowery scent!

Kingbingo - BEAUTIFUL plumeria! Do you do anything special to get it to bloom? I've had mine 3 years and the first year it bloomed great but eversince it just puts on great foliage but no blooms. I used a slow release bloom fertilizer this year (osmocote I think) but still nothing. Any ideas?

Red Mountain Salvia. Prickly Lime Ash (when it's in bloom). Bog Salvia has a nice aroma too.

Carla in Rowlett

I can't believe I forgot about the herbs. Mint, basil and rosemary do smell so wonderful.

I also particularly love the smell of the rose Frances Dubreuil.

You guys have me convinced... I have to find a sweet almond bush. It sounds like a great plant.

Kingbingo, your plumeria is gorgeous. I have one that has yet to flower, but I remember when I was in Hawaii, they grew all over the place. Any time I saw a flower, I had to stick my nose in it. Heaven! I hope some day my plumerias will actually flower so I can smell that scent again.

I can never find a Sweet Almond Bush.
I love my Copper Canyon Daisies
All of the Basils and rosemarys
Lemon Balm and Pneapple sage

Beautiful Plumeria

thanks!

i use green light super bloom and also spray the leaves with medina liquid fertilizer. make sure they have enough sun and correct amount of water!

I wouldn't be without night blooming jasmine. Talk about waft~~~ ! It scents the whole yard at night. The flowers close in the daytime.

It is not reliably hardy in the ground so I keep it in a five gallon pot, cut it back, and put it in an overwintering house during the winter. It has no pests or diseases that I know of so is very easy to keep.

Sometimes I cut a flowering stem and bring it in the house to scent the house at night. I think I'll do that right now. BTW, it's pretty strongly scented to say the least, might even be too strong for some, but not for me.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cestrum nocturnum

Great topic! Favorite? Cannot decide. Many already mentioned, plus good ol' Southern Magnolia and gardenia.

For a tree, Russian Olive, particularly in the spring. How about good old fashioned, easy to grow sunflowers? I've got lots in my back yard, and in the evening, they give off a wonderful, clean scent.

It definately would be hard to choose. I, too, love the fragrance of sweet olive. Also, Gardenias have a fragrance that I've never been able to pin down with a description. I won't bother tryng to grow one, but to visit gardenias in a nursery when they are in bloom is a real treat.

I'd say one of my favorite, favorite fragrances is that of what's considered a trash tree - sycamores. They have a sweetish smell that I detect even before I see that there's sycamore in the area. I just love that fragrance. I don't know if it comes from their leaves or their bark, but it comes from somewhere on the sycamore tree.

Sally

If you like the smell of curry, you'll love the curry plant...don't even have be close to it. I smell it everytime I'm watering that bed.

Almond verbena (another name for aloysia virgata?) is pretty powerful, too. DH doesn't like the smell, though; he says it smells like cat pee. He doesn't like honeysuckle either, for what that's worth.

Mexican mint marigold is one of my favorites cause I love anise. I like to trim my laurel shrub because it smells like anise, too.

I've got a few star jasmine vines growing, but don't smell anything from them unless I get right up to it--vey pretty though, when they're in bloom. They have grown really fast and are evergreen here in zone 8. My 2nd year one is over 10 feet high and starting to get bushy.

I grew some stock this spring and the dark purple ones smelled just like artificial grape flavoring.

The lavenders are probably my very favorites...and some of the roses...and scented geraniums. After reading these posts, now I'll have find space for a tea olive! If I had a greenhouse, I'd grow citrus...heavenly! So many great smelling plants and only one nose!

Oh, great topic! Let's see. Sweet Almond bush, or should I say tree. Mine is nearly 10' tall. Night-blooming jasmine. Butterfly ginger. Gardenia, of course. Double fragrant mock orange. And in winter - winter honeysuckle bush. Narcissus, old jonquils, for bulbs. There are so many antique roses.

For great smelling plants you brush up against to release the smell - basil, rosemary, mints, cardamon ginger, pennyroyal, bronze fennel.

Hmmm . . . Maybe I have a weird sense of smell, but I kind of like lantana. I like Mexican mint marigold, rosemary, autumn sage, scarlett sage, lemon balm, Belinda's Dream rose and the smell of pipevine. My selection is quite varied - from the sweet to the more savory scents.

Shame on all of you gardeners for not mentioning banana shrub. That's my hands down favorite and I collect fragrant plants! Scientific name is Michellia figo or M. skinneria. The shrub blooms in the spring and fall and boy does the smell wafte! It waftes the length of a football field! Smells like bananas, hence the name.
Kristina, sweet almond may not be very hardy for you. The one I overwintered inside is blooming its head off right now and has been for a month or two but the one growing outside froze almost to the ground and is not blooming. The smell is good from a distance but funny when you get your nose right up to it.
Sweet olives are my 2nd favorite. They smell like apricots and bloom fall - spring, only stopping when the cold or the heat get to them. I have around 40 if that is any indication of how good they are. Plant it in the sun instead of part shade and it will grow much better.
Eleagnus makes a good "screening" plant between you and your neighbors or whatever, and it is fragrant in the fall. You will never see the flowers unless you go look for them, but the smell will catch you.
Roses are wonderful, especially the David Austin ones, which were bred for fragrance. Charlotte, Jude the Obscure, Abram Darby, Tamora and Ambridge Rose are all great bloomers for me.
Winter honeysuckle is great because it blooms all winter when nothing else is going on.
Wintersweet is also great because it blooms in the winter. Smells better than winter honeysuckle, but blooms for a shorter period.
SFA recently started selling Michellia maudiaes, which is a different species of banana shrub and related to magnolias, and blooms in January with big white gardenia smelling flowers. Can't beat that.
Lemon verbena is my absolute favorite smell. It's an herb and if you ever find it - get it. It has overwintered the last couple of years for me.
Other fragrants are magnolia (they have a 20ft one called 'Little Gem'), jasmines, gardenia, datura, nicotania, star jasmine, wisteria, daphne, lemon grass, night blooming jasmine (tropical) and clethra.

The scent of AGASTACHE puts me in a good mood!

I've never heard of banana shrub before, but it sounds very interesting. Ditto for winter honeysuckle. Do you have aby pictures of them?

Rangoon creeper here. Also like mints and lemon verbena.

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Diary Rangoon Creeper

Great thread.
My favorite fragrances in the garden are:
'Francis Dubreuil' & 'Reine des Violettes' (two antique roses)
Rosemary
Lemon thyme

And I've learned something here. I didn't know basil was fragrant. I'll try it next year!

Randy

Kristina,
I don't have any pictures of banana shrub or winter honeysuckle. You could look them up on Dave's Garden ... they have pictures there. Neither plant is pretty. The winter honeysuckle is a huge green bush in the summer time. The banana shrub is an evergreen bush. I put clematis in both of them so that they have some color during the summer. Most of my favorite fragrants don't have much landscape value, just olfactory value! Roses are the exception, but they are not as easy to care for as most of the other plants listed. My wintersweets have NEVER been watered. The banana shrubs were watered once this year. Eleagnus not at all this year. And I do not have an established garden. None of the plants I listed are over 2 1/2 years old. You can just stick most of the fragrants in a corner that never gets noticed and just go over there to smell!

I didn't know anything about the Banana Shrub either. Maybe it doesn't do so well in San Antonio's alkaline soils? What do y'all think? Anything fragrant gets my attention. I looks like a small tree in the photos on the Dave's Garden link.

Here is a link that might be useful: Banana Shrub

It says acid soil. You'll have to put it in a container or amend the soil in the ground. I recommend the container. An acid plant in alkaline soil with city's alkaline water will look terrible and will die in short order.PJ

I'm bringing this topic back to the top. I am curious about the plumeria. A friend of mine in the garden club grows it in her garden. What does it smell like?

I am also interested in the David Austin roses. Do they take a lot of care - i.e., need spraying? I prefer to grow the Earthkind roses and have Belinda's dream as I mentioned in my earlier post and it smells fantastic and needs very little care. I have never sprayed anything on it and have only added compost and mulch around the base in the early spring as fertilizer.

Denise,
You would need to spray the David Austin Roses. They will never be on the Earthkind list, but with occasional spraying mine stay beautiful. All of the Austin's scents would blow Belinda's Dream out of the water, especially Jude the Obscure and Tamora ... but I understand not wanting to spray.
After re-reading this post, I wanted to mention that most people haven't seen banana shrubs because they are native to China and pretty new to the states. I've only seen them growing in two spots in my whole life, and that's if you include my house. Lately I've seen them at a couple of nurseries, so maybe people will start planting them more often. They seem like they are taylor made for Texas, since they love the heat and don't mind the drought.
My 2 favorite fragrant plants right NOW are winter honeysuckle and wintersweet. They are both blooming and it is so wonderful to have SOMETHING outside that is blooming! The camellias are blooming too, but they don't have much fragrance.

Denise,
You would need to spray the David Austin Roses. They will never be on the Earthkind list, but with occasional spraying mine stay beautiful. All of the Austin's scents would blow Belinda's Dream out of the water, especially Jude the Obscure and Tamora ... but I understand not wanting to spray.
After re-reading this post, I wanted to mention that most people haven't seen banana shrubs because they are native to China and pretty new to the states. I've only seen them growing in two spots in my whole life, and that's if you include my house. Lately I've seen them at a couple of nurseries, so maybe people will start planting them more often. They seem like they are taylor made for Texas, since they love the heat and don't mind the drought.
My 2 favorite fragrant plants right NOW are winter honeysuckle and wintersweet. They are both blooming and it is so wonderful to have SOMETHING outside that is blooming! The camellias are blooming too, but they don't have much fragrance.

Thanks for that information. I try to keep things organic in my yard. I got a gift certificate to Chamblees Rose Nursery in Tyler for Christmas and wanted to find out more about those roses before I used it. I had some other roses on my wish list and remembered seeing this thread and wanted to find out more information. I appreciate you responding so quickly.

I do know someone here in Allen with the winter honeysuckle and I know they really enjoy it in the winter. I might need to try to find a spot for one in my yard.

Denise, if you are going to Chamblee's and want some healthy roses that bloom a lot you should get Cramoisi Superior and Duchesse de Brabant and maybe Puerto Rico and Safrano and Alister Stella Grey. As far as I can remember I've never seen black spot on these and their ability to keep pumping out flowers in our hot summers is astounding. Ask Chamblees to make sure I'm right in thinking these stay healthy without spraying.

Brugmansias, and I am so anxious for it to get warm enough for me to put them back outside, so they can start blooming again. The fragrance at night is wonderful.

Denise,

I sent you a rather long email trying to describe the sent of plumerias. I hope it gives you a little information.

Linda

Cathy, I'm interested in Alister Stella Grey, but I don't like roses that have too many thorns. How thorny is your ASG? Also, how large are its blooms?

Randy

I have 3 acres with maybe 40 winter honeysuckle bushes on it. One area is a walkway with these bushes bordering both sides. This time of year, right now, the lemon scent is delicious.

The rest of the year they are evergreen, shade or sun, and full of birds.

After that my favorite is the R.moschata - musk rose. Thirdly is the variegated privet which is intensely sweet in the spring.

Randy,
Alistair Stella Grey isn't as thorny as most roses. I bought it after reading it was "almost thornless" but that isn't quite true. The thorns are small and not very close together, but they are definately there. Almost all of my climbers have been very relunctant to bloom and everyone says they will start blooming in the 3rd year, but A.S.G. has bloomed from the very start and blooms continuously. The blooms are small, maybe 1", a soft apricot fading to white. They come in large clusters. It's more of a leaning climber. I lucked out when placing it on an arbor leading into the rose garden and putting Lamarque on the other side, because Lamarque truly climbs and has covered the arbor in 2 years and A.S.G leans against the other side (but coming all the way to the top of the arbor) making a beautiful picture. If you saw the post of my wedding pictures that I put on the Antique Rose forum, the arbor is what we got married in front of.
TXGardenLady, those 40 winter honeysuckles sound delightful. I like my 1 so much that I rooted it this summer and the cuttings grew into humongous plants with roots coming out of the bottom of the 1 gallon pots by this fall! I just planted 4 of them bordering my new rose garden.

Thank you very much for the info on ASG, Cathy.

Randy

Thanks for that list of roses that are disease resistant and smell good. I'm glad I brought this topic back up for discussion.

How tall and wide does the winter honeysuckle get?

My winter honeysuckle is still young and is already 6' x 6'. I don't know how big it will get, but a fragrant plant book I was reading today said that you could (maybe should) prune it after it quits flowering so maybe it could be kept around this size.

Chocolate mint, meyer lemon, brugmansia, and cecil bruner rose. Yadda out.

Confederate jasmine, white butterfly ginger, pineapple sage, lemongrass, Clotilde Soupert rose, night-blooming jasmine, orange/lemon blossoms, to name a few!

All what I grow are fragrant plants I just don't see the point of growing flowers if they don't have a beautiful scent.My favorite would have to be the one and only gardenia it's scent is so wonderful and the flowers last a really long time it's definetly worth all the hard work.Right now mine is loaded with buds I can't wait for it to start getting warm.I also grow Jasmime Sambac "Maid of orleans"I love this one it consitantly spits out small fragrant flowers even when it gets up to 110 degrees and 90% humidity and you can never overwater it. I decided to experiment a little and potted up some "lily of the valley"roots I have one pot outside and two inside I love the scent and the flowers are so unique.And my Hycynths are just starting to poke there green sprouts out there my first bulbs I'm so excited.Another fragrant flower that was a first for me this winter were Sweet peas they have a beautiful interesting vine and the flowers are really fragrant and brightly colored for winter and after the flower falls off they turn into pea pods that you can pick and save for next year as they are really quick growers.The only flower that I've had a real problem with this year is freesia's they are torturing me they get all the way to the point were they are just about to flower and then nothing,they just sit there,but I'm still waiting i just cant give up.I also have Night blooming jasmine,Hals honeysuckle (potted),Lavender,Brugmansia's,moonflower,sweet olive,stock,mint,(4 different kinds in a big hanging basket which has been growing beautifully all fall and winter it all started with mojitos.)and I also have pumeria which is right now a big green stick in the laundry room that better flower for me this year or else.....I live in apartment so I'm limited to what I can grow everything is in a pot or basket so you can see why I like to have only fragrant flowers.Next winter I'm going to try peonies I just have to find a way to keep them alive through the summer I'll probably go to the nursery tomorrow.Don't ya just love Texas??

I am surprised there weren't more gardenia mentions. It's heavenly in May. Gotta go with honeysuckle, too, for wonderful fragrance.

How about geraniums---I love the spicy smell of the leaves. One other fragrance I'm fond of is the fresh smell of the hydrangea. Not sweet, just clean and fresh.

I love gardenias and would like to find some that bloom over a long period. The ones I have, and most of the others I see, only bloom for a short time. I know that there are ones that bloom for a long time because I've seen them in gardens in town. Does anyone know which variety it is?
BTW there were some gardenias blooming in Walmart today. It was wonderful to smell them during the winter.

The Incense passion flower. Wonderful scent--not too sweet to be cloying, and not musky like some p. incarnata can be. And it absolutely love the summer heat, blooming non-stop from June through September (and even longer depending on the weather).

I know this is an old thread but ended up coming apon it at the rose forum. I thought it was worth activating again. Alot of favorites from my garden are listed here too (agastache, confederate jasmine, gardenia, roses, copper canyon daisy, scented geraniums). Sweet olive is wonderful, I am planning on using it this fall. Can anyone tell me about the light requirements? I was planning on putting it in a site that gets morning sun and hopefully trying to keep it pruned to around 7 ft. I haven't heard of Michellia figo, does it need full sun here in Dallas? Thanks for any info!

I love, LOVE! Copper Canyon Daisies! I can be weeding in a bed close to them and get the scent wafting over me and I am like one of those cats with catnip! I want to just WALLOW in it! LOL

Also love lantana, altho it doesn't affect me the same way.

The Banana shrub is growing and doing very well in a yard in Victoria, Texas. I have permission to go there to take some cuttings in that garden this week, and that is one plant that is on my list to snip. It is growing in regular old alkaline clay soil, watered daily with regular old city water, with a ph up to THERE! Amazing!

This is a good thread. Thanks for bumping it up.

Janie

My sweet olives grow best in full sun. I've got lots of them in the shade and in morning sun, and they are surviving, but the ones in the most sun are thriving. If you want to put one in morning sun then do it. It may work well for you, but keep the sun thing in mind.
Banana shrubs are for filtered shade or shade, or morning sun. My banana shrubs get no water except for rain, and you know how scarce that was during the last 2 summers. They still grew and bloomed, even without any extra water.
Carrie

Carrie, I am pretty much out of full sun places in my garden right now. LOL, I have been going crazy planting stuff at this house, guess it was the frustration of living in condos for so many years, it's nice to finally have a yard! I will try it in morning sun, my roses seem to like it alot there so I hope the sweet olive will, I really love the fragrance. I am also going to look for the banana shrub, I have a good spot for it. Janie, I also love the copper canyon daisy. I put 2 in this year in different spots in my yard and anything that brushes by them (the dogs) releases their fragrance. Thank you both for the help!

Randy

O so many!! I REALLY love the Gardenia & Jasmine! Just got my 1st hopefully big Gardenia (Mystery)!!
I also love sitting in the back & having the neighbors Satsuman Orange blossom's scent 'waft' over!! I have a small 1 I can't wait to plant !!
This is a great thread! I'm jottin bunches down ; )

Where has this been - I don't remember posting, but there I am.

My biggest Winter honeysuckle bush is 8x8. I've seen one over 10 feet, but it had been trimmed up, and it may have encouraged it to go taller. It grows in a round shape. It does some suckering, but not bad. Blooms in January and Feb.

in my yard - lemon tree, rosemary, lantana, roses, Texas mountain laurel, lemon balm, basil

IF you're talking about a wafting smell, I love Mutabalis and gardenia and mountain laurel.

Can't beat a rose smell for something up close and personal.

My favorite really tough and fragrant rose is Lafter!

I bought it after passing it in a pot. It looks great now...can't say that about most of the other roses and the fragrance makes people walking by stop.

Love thos Brugs! They better be fragrant for all the trouble

Sweet Olive, Ararbian Jasmine, Tuberose, Gardenias to name just a few.

Magnolia
Lemon Thyme
Trumpet Tree
Clothilde Soupert rose
Crepe Myrtles
Lantana
Yesterday Today Tomorrow
Easter lilies