Were someone to ask me to choose between a garden where there was only one highly fragrant plant or a garden with many plants but no scent at all, I would declare the need for a cup of tea and hope the questioner forgets the question.
However, should I have to make that decision while experiencing the haunting, elusive, heart-touching fragrance of Indian sweet grass (hierochloe odorata)
as I did recently from the fields along Dallas Road, or the nose-stopping, eye-catching, come-hither Moroccan broom (Cytisus battandieri) also called
pineapple broom (pictured here) – I would likely
let the nose decide; the nose brings in the perfume but the whole body responds – even memory!
Sweet grass, pineapple broom, Australian bushmint, witch hazel, roses all fling their fragrance out lavishly. I am sure there are many I have yet to discover: let me know!
Sarcococca came to my attention through my friend, Barb – its pleasant smell (there should be more works to describe delightful odours!) came wafting around the corner of her house one chilly day and such was my delight that she gifted me with two seedlings which have survived being dug up twice in their sheltered, pampered position in a pot on the front veranda by squirrels finding a spot to bury hazelnuts from nearby trees and ought to produce their first blossoms early next year. This is what the two plants look like in their pot with squirrel-deterrent chain.
Would it not be a splendid happening to have such plants scattering scent in a neighbourhood, in a city…..
‘Stopping to smell the roses’ would take on an effortless aspect with the benefits unrestricted by the ‘should do’ factor.
This lemon scented geranium and southernwood need to be touched to release their essence and it is habit-forming and a quite wonderful farewell or welcome when one is leaving or coming back home.