Tag Archive for: fragrant plants

4 fragrant flower garden ideas

Daphne Perfume Princess™ packs an impressive punch in terms of perfume power. This one is the classic pink version and it’s easily the easiest daphne of all to grow.

Music and perfume pack the most powerful punches when it comes to emotional hooks. Remember dancing under the stars on a jasmine-scented evening? If you hear that song and catch the same perfume on the breeze, you’re transported straight back in time. Rather than wait for chance, it’s easy to create your own happy-scented-memory bubble just by growing perfumed plants – on a window ledge, balcony, patio or in the soil. Here are 4 fragrant flower garden ideas to get you started: then just plant and take a deep breath….   

1. The one and only Perfume Princess. In the cooler months there’s no other flower that has the same intense perfume as a daphne. And of the daphne options you’ll find at the garden centre, no daphne compares with Daphne Perfume Princess™. There’s a snow white version, and a classic pink and both have the waxy, almost crystalline florets in larger-than-normal clusters. Daphne Perfume Princess is versatile too: being happy to grow in a container and stay relatively modest in size, or to grow into a very nice bushy shrub if planted directly into the soil. With this much flexibility it’s easy to position your daphne right where your nose can enjoy the perfume:  in a pot on the balcony; or planted in the garden right beside a welcoming garden bench.

perfume power
Daphne Perfume Princess™ also comes in crystalline white with just as much perfume power.

2. Spring bulbs that catch our breath. Who doesn’t stop to put their nose into a pot of flowering bulbs in springtime. It’s super easy to plant your own to have on the balcony or even to bring indoors to sit on the table at lunchtime. In late winter, just pick a container, fill it a third full of free draining potting mix, then tuck your bulbs in and cover with the rest of the potting mix. Sit it out where it will get rain and sun, and before long you’ll spot little green spikes nudging upwards. Which bulbs do you choose? Perfumed ones of course, like the small narcissus aka jonquils. In yellow, cream, splashes of orange and soft pinks there are heaps to choose from. Or freesias, with their trumpets of scent that come in rainbow colours. Hyacinths are lovely and their fragrance is why people sit them on their kitchen windowsills in late winter. To see more options go online and search with ‘perfume’ and ‘bulbs’…

Some of the best and simplest spring bulbs to grow are the narcissus aka jonquils. These are paperwhites and they smell delicious.

3. Fragrant Roses are brilliant. And probably the easiest, best performing perfumed rose to plant and grow these days is the Flower Carpet® Fragrant Shrub rose (known as the Showpiece Fragrant Shrub rose in the southern hemisphere and Canada). These roses don’t need expert pruning or spraying, they grow into a nice green bushy bush and produce fairytale, large, fragrant roses. There are five colours to choose from (with more on the way), and you can grow them in the ground or in a container. Again, a terrific option for balcony, patio or a whole easy-care rose garden full of them.

perfume power
These days we’re lucky to be able to plant super easy to grow rose bushes like Berry which is one of the new Flower Carpet® fragrant shrub roses bred by the same family that created the original Flower Carpet® ground cover roses.

4. Wisteria wonderland. If you want to create a springtime scented show-stopper moment, nothing beats wisteria. Purple (over white) packs the most fragrance, and you can train it so that the flower racemes dangle just overhead in a scented cloud. Look around your place and plan where you’ll train it as the vine grows. Up and over the back door; over a pergola to shade the patio; along the balcony’s balustrade so that you’ll be wrapped in a shawl of perfume and be screened from passers-by.

Hanging clusters of dreamy-scented flowers – what’s not to love about wisteria?

Is Daphne Perfume Princess the best? (Yes!)

Daphne Perfume Princess
Go and do your research and you’ll quickly see why Daphne Perfume Princess™ is the best.

Question: Since 2016, what daphne is the best one to plant? (Hint: think royalty…) The answer is the Daphne Perfume Princess™ which was released that year.  And proof that she reigns supreme comes from the fact that she’s now been around long enough to prove that every compliment paid to Her Highness is based on fact. If you have Daphne Perfume Princess growing in your garden you’ll be nodding your head as you read through these absolute truths: she grows into a nice evergreen bushy shaped shrub; she’s easy to grow, thrives with no care and is a robustly healthy plant; she produces lots of flowers over a good stretch of time, and they are big; they’re also super fragrant with a citrus overtone that’s extra special. To push the point even further, she’s won these awards: 2018 Best New Ornamental Plant Variety, Horticulture Week, UK; 2018 Gold Medal, Florall Award, Belgium; 2016 Plant of the Year, Australian Nursery and Garden Industry Association. So there you have it. She’s the best. Fact. And here’s one more fact… a white Daphne Perfume Princess has been bred to join her pink flushed sister.

Daphne Perfume Princess White
Daphne Perfume Princess™ also comes in a white form.

Maybe you didn’t know about Daphne Perfume Princess until now. You’ll probably be interested to have her pointed out to you when you’re next down at the garden centre (believe it, she’ll be there). And then you’ll think – I want this daphne because I know I can grow it, and I’ve always wanted to grow one but the old ones were too fussy and not very pretty (if we’re honest). So here are a few ideas if you need inspiration on the where…

IN A CONTAINER: this is a great move if you don’t have much room or you tend to move house a bit. Daphne Perfume Princess will grow happily in a pot out on a balcony, on a patio, or beside the front door. Outdoors is the go – full sun through to part shade – you can always bring her in for the day to spice up the house. Pick a pot that’s generous and use potting mix to avoid waterlogging. Throw in a few spring bulbs and you’ll end up with a visual treat. Simple.

A LUXE HEDGE: if you’re about to plant a hedge, or what they call a foundation planting around the base of your home, think about using Daphne Perfume Princess. The way this wonderful daphne grows means you’d have a nice bushy green line of plants even when she’s not in flower. And when Daphne Perfume Princess is in flower, that fragrant bliss is yours!

BY THE BENCH: do you have a garden seat? Somewhere to stop for a break mid morning? If it’s well positioned it catches the sun in winter and enjoys dappled shade from a deciduous tree in summer. And from mid winter to late spring it needs to be enveloped by the scent of daphne. One plant will do it, tucked in nearby. Easy.

Daphne Perfume Princess
Here’s everything you need to make your magically scented spot in the garden – a bench + a daphne.
Daphne Perfume Princess flowers are very big (6cm = almost 2.5 inches).
Daphne Perfume Princess
Take a look at the nice bushy form it grows into – super useful in the garden.
Real garden

How to create the perfect garden

how to create the perfect garden
A basic green planting is easily transformed into a real garden by adding in lovely flowers like crocosmia Lucifer and the gloriously scented white-eyed pink Volcano® Phlox.

Do you ever dream of having a garden, like our grandparents, that’s filled with flowers and perfume? The surprise is that creating the perfect garden that looks and smells like the real thing is as easy as one, two, three…

1. Start small: don’t tackle the whole forty acres but pick the areas where you’re going to notice the most change. The garden nearest the front and back doors. The patio, courtyard or balcony. It doesn’t matter how big or small the space you’re working with: it just needs to be somewhere you spend time. Take real or mental pics of the space you’re working with and if you’re handy with a pencil and the back of an envelope, do a quick sketch plan of what’s already there. This helps you prepare for what comes next.

Always pick plants that have been bred to be un-fussy like Volcano® Phlox. This one is pink with red eye, and there are eight other colour options to choose from.

2. Something has to go: you usually need to pull old plants out to make room for the new. Move your evictees to another spot or give them away if you hate waste, but the idea is to give your gorgeous new plants enough soil space and head room to thrive without having to fight for fresh air and moisture. Now mark the gaps on your sketch (or take fresh pics) then head down to the garden centre.

Volcano® phlox in white and pink with red roses and orange daylilies added to the mix make for a real, scented, colour-filled garden complete with a path to take you to your secret places.

3. The fun bit: at the garden centre, take a look around. From your pics and sketch you’ll know how many plants you’re there to buy. As for what to get, here’s a great list to start with. You want easy care, scented, colourful and bullet-proof. Roses. Phlox. Lavender. Heliotrope. Daphne. Honeysuckle. You get the idea. But do a quick check online to make sure that the plant in your hand is one of the well-bred varieties (you don’t want a fussy old variety that won’t deliver). For example, look for Volcano® Phlox which is sturdy, long flowering and super tolerant of powdery mildew that plagues other phlox.

And that’s it. Collect and tuck your real garden plants into nooks and crannies and your garden will give you as much pleasure as a child’s visit to their grandparents’ place.

Design a fragrant garden

Gardens that look beautiful are certainly lovely to enjoy, but sweetly scented gardens take our enjoyment to a whole new level.  Whether your outdoor space is simply a small deck, or a full sized garden and yard, here are some simple tips to design a fragrant garden.

1: Think big. 

Flowering trees, simply because of their size, can add fragrance to an area 20 feet or more in diameter. Some great examples include lilacs, mock orange trees (perfect in climates where it’s too cold to grow citrus trees), Japanese fringe trees, Baby Grand™ Magnolia and Korean spice viburnum.  For areas with limited space, you can’t go wrong with Fairy Magnolia® magnolias. These bushy shrubs cover themselves with a blanket of fragrant flowers each spring but grow to only 9-12 feet high and 5-7 feet wide. Bonus: after they’ve completed their bloom cycle, they leave behind glossy green foliage and make a perfect specimen tree or full hedge if planted in multiples. 

design a fragrant garden

If you have the space and proper support for them, flowering vines are also a tremendous way to add fragrance. Imagine blooming ‘Scentsation’ Honeysuckle or old-fashioned sweet peas spilling over a fence or garden gate, or a gorgeous wisteria spilling over richly scented peonies.

design a fragrant garden

2: Select plants with varying bloom times.

To enjoy lovely scents all season long, make certain to include a variety of blooming plants in your yard, garden, or even in pots on your deck. Perfume Princess™ Daphne is the earliest and longest flowering daphne, blooming from mid winter to late spring. Plant it near a doorway or under a window to delight in its delicious scent, both indoors and out.

design a fragrant garden

Spring-flowering bulbs like hyacinths and paperwhites all bring back memories of our grandmother’s garden. Other early-blooming shrubs and perennials such as witch hazel, andromeda (Pieris japonica) and dwarf fothergilla and peonies all open the season with lovely scents, and then carry on throughout the summer and into the fall with attractive foliage.

Moving into the warmer summer months, you can always count on gardenias, summersweet , and lightly scented Flower Carpet® Amber (seen above) to not only add fragrance, but also attract pollinators. A real butterfly magnet, Volcano® phlox (seen below) bloom into early fall if deadheaded at least once in the season.  They send off a light fragrance, both in the garden and as a cut flower. 

design a fragrant garden

For fragrant annuals, you can’t go wrong with clove-scented stock, with their gorgeous pink, purple red or white blooms.  They’re wonderful in the garden and make great cut flowers too.  Another later blooming option is aromatic Bluebeard spirea (caryopteris).  Sending off tiny blue flowers from late summer into fall, this low maintenance shrub is also deer resistant and attracts butterflies!

3: Don’t forget the little guys

Even a few tiny lily of the valley stalks placed in a vase with violets can add fragrance to an entire room.  Lavender blooms may be tiny, but with its soothing scent, this plant often appears on the “best-smelling flowers” list.  And as a bonus, the more you cut, the more lavender blooms.  Sweet alyssum (seen below, surrounding Strawberries & Cream hydrangeas), is grown easily and inexpensively by seed and emits a honey-sweet scent that beckons to pollinators.  This tiny-blossomed annual looks delicate but it stands up to early frosts, self-seeds and works nicely as filler between other annuals or perennials and in container plantings.

4: Delight in Round-the-Clock Fragrance

If you enjoy spending time outdoors in the evening, don’t forget to plant fragrant night bloomers.  Although easy-to grow annual flowering tobacco (nicotiana) blossoms are open much of the day, they wait until the sun goes down to release their incredible fragrance. (Hint:  for the strongest fragrance, look for the old fashioned varieties like nicotiana alata or sylvestris).  Night blooming Jasmine shrubs sweeten the air with their tiny white flowers that open in the evening and close in the morning.  And, although it’s poisonous, it’s hard to resist Angel Trumpet’s alluring night fragrance.  This stunning plant is ideal grown in a container and placed out of harm’s way on a deck or patio.

And finally, while enhancing your garden to delight the senses, remember to place your fragrant plants in areas where you’ll enjoy them most!

Why we love Daphne Perfume Princess

why we love Daphne Perfume Princess
Most people spot Daphne Perfume Princess™ because of the massive flowers.

Let’s be honest… it’s easy to see why we love Daphne Perfume Princess. She’s a gorgeous, heady-scented Daphne and there is absolutely no way anyone could describe her as fine-framed or fussy. If you see a Daphne Perfume Princess™ growing alongside a traditional daphne you will be shocked: she looks like a buff supermodel sitting beside a seven year old wannabe ballerina.

Daphne Perfume Princess™ is an unapologetically lush, dense bush with larger leaves, larger scented flowers and more of them. It’s also ridiculously easy to grow since it thrives without any effort from us. When you know all this, it’s not hard to understand why this plant is massively popular, thanks to…

1: Those big flowers… which really are huge, being four times bigger than an old fashioned Daphne. Not only are the flowers themselves larger but they also grow along the stems in clusters. And while we usually enjoy Daphne over a few weeks in late winter, Daphne Perfume Princess produces her flower show from mid winter through to late spring. Strangely she sometimes flowers at other times – which is a bonus – but regardless of when, the Daphne Perfume Princess scent is heady, glorious and with a citrus undertone.

why we love Daphne Perfume Princess
Ok, this is a picture of a bush – a very nice, dense green bush. But what’s special about this bush is that it is actually a Daphne but obviously not an old-style straggly Daphne. And that’s because this is the all-new, improved and totally wonderful Daphne Perfume Princess™.

2: Those big leafy bushes. It’s a good idea to pay attention to how any plant in your garden looks all year around. Who wants an awkward, rangy plant with sparse foliage when you can have the same Daphne perfume hit from a better all-rounder plant? This is especially true when it comes to Daphne because we tend to plant them where we can smell them: near the front door or beside a garden bench. And since these positions are usually very visible, having a lushly foliaged green bush to look at rather than the usual underwhelming old style Daphne is a plus.

why we love Daphne Perfume Princess
Look at this little fellow. So young and still such a go-getter. Just look at all those roots and a flower! No guesses what this Daphne is: Daphne Perfume Princess™.

3: That lust for life. Daphne Perfume Princess is precocious – a fast developer. The nurserymen who produce these plants see this daily in the way young plants leap out of their pots ahead of other Daphne varieties, or even spring into flower when they are still juvenile. These plants get on with the business of growing into lusty, healthy flower swamped bushes from the absolute get-go. And they do it with very few demands on us. Water a new plant in once you’ve planted it, and then when it finishes flowering, throw a handful of slow release fertiliser around the base of the plant … if you remember.