Advice from Weston garden centre on getting some fragrance in the garden
In the weekly Out in the Garden column, Mark Cox of Baytree Garden Centre in Weston, talks about fragrant flowers.
I’m not sure about you, but I love the warm weather we’ve all been experiencing. That said, for me at night it has been really muggy, making it increasingly difficult to sleep.
More often than not I’ve found myself sat outside on the patio with a cold glass of something white as it’s cooler outside than in the house. Even the present Mrs Cox has joined me recently… I believe more to do with the wine than my sparkling personality.
As I sat there glass in hand wearing just my pants (my patio is secluded, nobody was injured or mentally scared as a result), I looked out across the garden feeling really proud of how it looks during the day. It’s really colourful, the lawn looks healthy, my vegetable patch is in good order and my hanging baskets are really beginning to look very good.
Sadly, while sat there at dusk the garden somehow seemed quite soulless. Yes I could hear the breeze rustling the leaves in the trees and yes you can hear the water feature bubbling away but for me there was something missing.
It took me a while and it wasn’t until the present Mrs Cox stood up to go back into the house to pour some more wine that the missing ingredient made itself known to me.
Scent, the present Mrs Cox whilst having the patience to put up with me also has great taste in perfume. So as she stood I caught the scent of her perfume. There and then I made my mind up that I would plant some really fragrant flowers in and around the patio so that in the evening they could fill the garden with their wonderful aroma.
So the following day I began buying a selection of night scented plants. One of the common features of plants that release their fragrance at night is they attract nocturnal pollinators and usually the flowers are pale or white in colour. So when the moon is out they reflect the light and pop against the darkness.
After a little research the first plant that would make it onto my scented patio was trachelospermum jasminoides or more commonly known as Star Jasmine. It produces pretty white flowers and this evergreen climber is best grown against a wall or over an arch. The fragrance it exudes is rich and vanilla like.
Next to reach it to judges’ houses is Dianthus White Memories. It produces a spicy clove-like scent which lingers well into the evening. The scent is beautiful and the flowers are simply stunning.
A Honeysuckle just had to make it into the mix. If you wander through a classic English cottage garden you’ll more than likely to be embraced by the scent of honeysuckle. They produce an abundance of pink and white tubular flowers.
Sweet Rocket – Hesperis Matronalis has a scent which is a sweet as violets. Sweet Rocket produces beautiful clusters of pale purple flowers on tall stems which almost glow in the dark. Another great choice I thought.
Nicotiana Sylvestris or Tobacco plant grows stems up to 1.5 metres tall with long white trumpet-shaped flowers forming drooping clusters. At dusk the plant begins to release its sweet perfume into the air. To be fair I feel fairly happy with my choice.
So there you have it, my next task is to get them all planted up and placed strategically around the patio so that my garden smells like the perfume counter of a high end department store.
