Top 5 Fragrant Plants for a Perfumed Garden

Create a perfumed paradise

Relaxing and entertaining outdoors is a summer delight and one’s that’s made all the more delicious with a balmy breeze and sweet-smelling scents lacing the air. Whether watching the kids or hosting friends, an enticing and aromatic outdoor space adds a new dimension to your garden, inviting you to linger longer, soaking up the fresh air and the vitamin D. Black Group Landscape & Construction has selected their top 5 fragrant plants for your garden to create a perfumed paradise.

Gardenia ‘Florida’

This popular shrub is medium-sized with glossy leaves, and as it’s an evergreen, it looks great all year round. In spring and summer, it has a very strong fragrance, with flowers ranging from yellow to pure white. Lots of people find these plants difficult to grow. They thrive in full sun, but a little bit of shade is okay. Water them weekly, but don’t overwater them as it can cause other problems — they like to be well-drained.

Top 5 Fragrant Plants for a Perfumed Garden purple jared

Boronia ‘Purple Jared’

This small dense shrub has a deep purple flower and delicious perfume. It can be grown in a large pot or in the garden. It’s a lovely variety to cut and put in vases to fill your home with fragrance. It prefers to grow in sunny spots with light shade and the soil should be kept well-drained. The purple jaded flowers in late winter to late spring and — if you’re lucky — up until Christmas.

Pittosporum undulatum

Also known as sweet pittosporum, native daphne, Australian cheesewood, Victorian box or mock orange, many homes in Australia use these plants as screens to keep the neighbours at bay. But have you noticed the summer dusk/nighttime fragrance? It sometimes smells like orange. The flowers look like an orange bud (but you can’t eat them!).

Jasminum polyanthum

Also known as pink jasmine, this plant is loved for its hardiness and because it grows fast. But its best feature is the fragrance. As a strong evergreen twining climber, make sure it’s kept neatly pruned. It’s best grown on a structure that doesn’t warp, such as a metal structure away from the home.

Daphne shrub

The daphne shrub is an all-time favourite and has one of the best fragrances. It has glossy leaves and large clusters of white/pink flowers, which in autumn will give off a citrus-smelling scent. The daphne is very easy to care for, even in pots. Positioned in or near the house, the fragrance can fill the home. The daphne is also great to propagate — do it around Christmas and in just a few weeks, you’ll have new daphne plants.