Smelling the Garden

I walk outside and I smell honeysuckle. I come out of the grocery store with no apparent honeysuckle and I smell it. It is in the air everywhere. It’s one of the first things I remember about moving east: spring honeysuckle. Taking walks in the evening and being overwhelmed with the smell. Yes, I know it is a terrible invasive, but at least it smells good. I love plants that smell good. Few new plants seem to have fragrance these days, not high on anyone's preference list. It seems people are more inte.rested in the color of the flowers and the bloom time then if it has a fragrance.

We still have a few, Clove Pinks or Dianthus, lots of the phlox family are native and otherwise are good smellers. Some cone flowers are very sweet smelling, Moonflowers on a summer evening... yum. Nicotinia. Some of the old roses. Heliotrope with it’s baby powder fresh scent, even catmint: not quite what I would call sweet but still pleasant brushing up against it. Me and the bees think it smells grand. The blue Wave petunia smells great, too (no other color that I have found). Angles trumpet...well OK so I could go on and on. All of the herbs, of course...

How many smellers do you have in your garden? Not what we think of when we go to the local nursery these fragrant plants. Anyone ever asked the sales person “what do you have that will make everyone remember my garden because it smells nice?” I for one have never said that. But when I pay attention to fragrance it makes the garden so much more interesting and memorable, even something I enjoy working in more. It's not just something to appreciate with my eyes. In fact, if I close my eyes I can still smell the garden. It’s like a fresh cut lawn in summer, something we remember forever. If I take care to add plants with fragrance, the garden is more memorable for me. Just like smelling that old invasive honeysuckle: sweet spring. Next time we'll talk about herbs that smell... hmm . They all smell. How about my favorite scented herbs? Until then, night all.