When designing a garden, we’re all focused on how it’s going to look from one season to the next. Yet, the only thing better than a garden that looks great—is one that smells fantastic! Choosing plants that stimulate more than one of your senses is a wonderful way to boost the ambience of your outdoor space, without any additional work. These fragrant perennials do double-duty with great looks and even better scents!
Coneflower is a common addition to the perennial garden, and while just about any cultivar goes over as a treat with pollinators, this sweetly-scented variety is a true crowd-pleaser. Butterfly Kiss has spectacular double flowers that look like large candy-pink pom-poms with golden centres; an awesome, fragrant flower to enjoy outdoors or indoors in a vase!
Not a perennial as much as a low-growing shrub, this fragrant sumac is awesome for filling in large patches of poor soil or adding interest on sloped areas. Even better than its sweet-scented foliage is its gorgeous fall colour; the foliage covers the ground in vibrant shades of red in autumn.
What’s a fragrant perennial garden without lavender? Available in several varieties, such as Hidcote Blue and English Munstead, lavender is loved around the world for its potent perfume that lingers whether the flower is fresh or cut and dried. It also makes an unbeatable garnish for fancy cocktails and desserts!
With a name like Bee Balm, you know this one is a boon for attracting pollinators! Blooming in summer, the vibrant flowerheads resemble pom-poms or tiny fireworks of colour in the garden—definitely a fun one for your perennial borders. Best of all, however, it’s not actually the flowers but the foliage that give this plant its lovely fragrance, so you can continue to enjoy its scent whether the plant is in bloom or not.
A truly awesome groundcover, this fragrant perennial does it all; it’s tough enough to be walked on (great for planting between flagstones!), flowers profusely in the summer, and looks great in every application from containers to rock gardens. Did I mention it smells great? Nutmeg thyme gets its name from its spicy, nutmeg-scented foliage.
Also known as ‘Pinks’ or Dianthus, you may know Sweet William as the unique flower with jagged-edged petals. As eye-catching as its blooms are, its scent is just as nice with its spicy, clove-like aroma. Sweet William is often treated as an annual, but it’s perfect for “spicing up” your containers (quite literally!) and then transplanting them into the garden later into the season with the potential to reseed.
Larger yards and acreages can be a challenge when you’ve got large swaths of land to cover. Few plants fill that space better than Russian Dwarf Sage, a somewhat wild-looking perennial with fragrant, fern-like foliage and long-lasting lavender flower spikes. Thanks to their slim, upright stalks and fine texture, the flowers have a graceful appearance that is absolutely perfect for large mass plantings.
In addition to these great selections, you can add even more sensory magic to your landscape with the addition of sweet-smelling shrubs, trees, and even annuals. Visit our garden centre in Guelph to see (and smell) them for yourself!
