While colour and texture are certainly aspects of planting that need to be considered when mulling over garden and landscaping design ideas, there’s one other factor that certainly deserves some serious thought… and that’s fragrance!
Having a beautiful garden that smells as wonderful as it looks will certainly heighten the pleasure of spending time outside – so here are some top tips from the LW Landscapes team to help you tick all the boxes where scent is concerned.
Consider positioning
It’s not necessary to make sure that every plant in the garden has a strong scent, but what is key is to think about where to place your flowers and shrubs so you can maximise enjoyment of scent.
Line the garden path with strongly scented flowers, for example, or place them around the patio where you like to sit outside. The front of the house is also a great place for fragrance, welcoming you in every time you get home.
Explore winter varieties
Because plants have their work cut out for them during the winter months to attract pollinators, winter scents can be incredible. Look out for varieties like paperbush, viburnum and sweet box shrubs.
Find your favourite climbers
Thinking vertically when designing a garden is a great idea, as it helps you maximise the amount of space you have to play with. And the big bonus with climbing plants is that a lot of them have amazing smells!
The likes of wisteria, chocolate vine, jasmine, honeysuckle, clematis and many, many climbing roses will all help to ensure that your garden both looks and smells divine.
Find your favourite scents
Research is a must when considering fragrance in planting – so head off to garden centres and start smelling plants so you can decide what you like and what you don’t. Calming scents include the likes of rose, jasmine, chamomile and lavender, so these would be good for seating areas.
And don’t forget about night-time fragrance… phlox, star jasmine and nicotiana all start to release their scent as the sun goes down. Intoxicating!