Plan a Bit of Fragrance in Your Garden

Ahhh the sweet smell of lilacs generate fond memories for many of us. Be sure to grow a few new memories in your garden this year.

Strategically placing a few aromatic plants in the landscape can help improve your mood, fight depression and promote relaxation.

Make a list of flowers with fragrances that generate fond memories. Now find a way to blend them into your containers and gardens.

Hyacinths, Carol Mackie daphne and some crabapples can fill your spring garden with fragrance. Include annuals like sweet alyssum, heliotrope and nicotiana also called flowering tobacco near entryways, on patios and decks or near an open window.

Mix a few fragrant perennials into your planting beds. Peonies, sweet woodruff, lavender, Russian sage, bee balm, and rock cress are just a few to try. And don’t forget the herbs. They add color, texture and fragrance to containers and gardens. Rosemary, thyme and sage are just a few to consider.

A bit more information: Keep a list of your favorite fragrant plants and find ways of adding them to your containers, garden and landscape. Scented geraniums, signet marigolds (citrusy fragrance) petunia, garden stocks, dianthus, and sweet pea are a few more fragrant annuals you may want to try. Black snakeroot, some perennial dianthus, Queen-of-the-prairie, some daylilies, catmint (use clumping varieties), peonies, garden phlox, prairie dropseed and garden valerian are perennials that provide years of fragrance and beauty.