Category Archives: Fragrant Garden

Fragrant Shrubs Add Beauty & Perfume to the Garden

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Experienced gardeners can tell the season by the scents that fill the air. Spring brings the transporting perfume of Lilacs and the unmistakable sweet spicy vanilla fragrance of Viburnum carlesii. Late spring introduces the citrus scent of Philadelphus (Mock Orange) and the delicate fragrance of select Clematis vines. Sultry summer broadcasts the perfumes of Roses, Clethra (Sweet Pepperbush), and a scented Buddleia (Butterfly Bush). Fill your garden with fragrant shrubs and vines and enjoy a range of heavenly, natural scents from spring to fall. Scroll below to find some of our favorites, and visit our website for more.

Clematis ‘Sweet Summer Love’  is fragrant, free-flowering, and easy to grow. The hardy, disease-resistant vines produce masses of small blooms that change color from reddish-purple to purple then a paler violet. The flower show begins early, generally in midsummer, and continues into autumn. Mature vines reach 10-15’ high and produce hundreds of flowers in a single season, smothering trellises, fences, arbors, deck railings, or stone walls. The lovely fragrance combines notes of almond, cherry and vanilla. ‘Sweet Summer Love’ is a winner of multiple prizes including the Green Thumb Award from the National Garden Bureau.

Viburnum carlesii is one of the most gloriously fragrant shrubs known to man. The dense flower heads, which measure up to 3″ across, produce white flowers from blush pink buds, and the perfume, which is a sweet, rich, spicy vanilla, carries a considerable distance across a lawn or garden. Plant one or two where you take your springtime strolls.

Beautiful and carefree Buddleia Lo & Behold Ruby Chip™ combines a tidy growing habit with jewel-tone ruby-pink flower spikes to create a decorative pollinator magnet for smaller gardens or the edge of larger borders. The fragrant flowers don’t need to be deadheaded, and they appear over a long season on a deer-resistant, drought-tolerant plant.

Rose ‘Zephirine Drouhin’ bears pink semidouble blooms from June to October, and they  emerge on almost thornless stems. The sweet fragrance of these flowers befits an heirloom Bourbon. This winner of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit is a perfect candidate to adorn a fence, trellis, or tuteur.

The lightly scented 2–3″ pink flowers of Clematis montana ‘Mayleen’ cascade over trellises and walls with abandon in early summer. Bronze and green foliage creates the perfect backdrop for the spectacular show. Winner of the RHS Award of Garden Merit.

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Roses & a Few Favorite Friends

Climbing Roses, Fragrant Garden, Fragrant Plants, Garden Design, Perennials, Roses

Plants are like people in the sense that they thrive in communities, and they tend to shine brighter in the company of good friends. This June, our Rose Garden at the farm provided a glorious illustration of the power of harmonious relationships. In a long, meandering border planted with roughly 70 Roses, each variety is enhanced by its proximity to perennials that provide complementary or contrasting color, form, and texture. As the garden hit its peak in June, it offered visitors a textbook example of how to plant Roses and their preferred companions for best effect. While the peak has now passed, the garden will continue to provide rolling waves of bloom, thanks to the perennials that keep company with all the Roses. If you happen to live nearby or are in range to make a visit, we hope you’ll come by and take a stroll. In the meantime, we thought it might be helpful to showcase some of the perennials that do such a great deal to bring magic to the Rose Garden. We hope they inspire you to plant some of your own.

The red spires of Lupine ‘Red Rum,’ the lavender-blue spikes of a Nepeta, and stands of dark purple Salvia ‘Caradonna’ provide contrasting colors amid the white blossoms of Rose Easy Spirit™.
The golden blossoms of Rose Easy Elegance® Yellow Submarine are enhanced by the blue flowers of a Campanula, which have the charming habit of intermingling with their neighbors.
Rose Easy on the Eyes™ finds flattering company amid mounds of Baptisia australis (rear), red-leaved Penstemon ‘Dark Towers,’ lavender-blue Nepeta Junior Walker™ (left), and the felted gray foliage of Stachys byzantina ‘Fuzzy Wuzzy’ (Lamb’s Ears).
The airy, creamy plumes of Aruncus dioicus (Goatsbeard) form a lovely backdrop for two pink-flowering Roses, while an Iris creates a dreamy pool of lavender-blue.

Click through to the Rose Companions section of our website to find more perennials that serve as excellent companions for Roses, and consider adding some to your garden.

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