I happen to love growing fragrant perennial flowers because like the old ad says, “double your pleasure” – you get the flowers and the fresh fragrance of these plants in your garden.
Here are a few easily found plants you might consider growing.
- Achillea – easily grown in full sun and rock hardy
- Agastache – self sowing, lovely violet shades for sun
- Arabis – low growing, sweet fragrance for sun or light shade
- Artemisia – foliage is menthol for full hot sun
- Asclepias – flowers are almost sickly sweet and overpowering in mass plantings
- Buddleia – a fall bloomer and garden classic
- Calamintha – lesser known garden perennial – minty
- Caryopteris – shrubby plant, grow as herbaceous perennial in cold areas
- Centaurea- blue corn flower, full sun and self-sowing
- Centranthus – full sun-lover and easy to grow
- Cimicifuga – a shade garden classic perennial, sweet fragrance
- Clematis – sweet fragrance on bush clematis
- Convallaria – classic lily of the valley for spreading shade
- Corydalis – another tender shade lover
- Cosmos – chocolate cosmos with distinctive fragrance – while most will self-sow, you should do this one from cuttings
- Cyclamen – sweet if you can get your nose that low
- Dianthus – carnation smells
- Dictamnus – powerful fragrance for the sunny garden
- Erysimum – sweet spring if short lived plant
- Eupatorium – full sun lover and easy once established
- Euphorbia – another tough to kill plant in full sun
- Geranium – leaves are menthol fragrance
- Hemerocallis – some flowers fragrant – “lemon lily” is of the classic
fragrant perennials - Hesperis – dames rocket – a native has purple or white fragrant flowers
- Hosta – the fall bloomers are wonderfully fragrant
- Iris – goes without saying
- Lavandula – another full sun classic
- Lilium – one of the classic plants for a fragrant garden
- Melissa – minty fragrance
- Monarda – the leaves are distinctive
- Nepeta – catnip with its minty tones
- Origanum – oregano – both for fragrance and low-growing ornamental
status - Paeonia – classic corsage and cut flower
- Perovskia – late summer blooming and foliage is dusky
- Phlox – some varieties more fragrant than others
- Polemonium – tender sweet fragrance – not heavy
- Primula – a classic primrose sweet floral fragrance
- Rosmarinus – rosemary – it’s all in the leaves
- Salvia – it’s all in the leaves of this “sage” family
- Silene – another faint but interesting floral perfume
- Tanacetum – again see the leaves of this mum
- Thymus – who doesnt’ think of fragrance when you think of thyme and
fragrant perennials - Tiarella – a slight woodlandy sweet fragrance
- Viola – a clear flower fragrance from the violets.
Print out this list of fragrant perennials and take it shopping with you to make sure you do indeed double your pleasure with your garden this summer.
