©
Janet Davis
Shrubs
adorned with attractive blossoms are always a welcome sight in the spring
garden after our long, cold winters.
But why settle for shrubs that merely look beautiful when you can have some that smell fabulous as well?
Fragrance
in the plant world, admittedly, is serious business. It’s all about releasing aromatic plant oils
or alcohols to attract the right insect, bee, moth or butterfly to pollinate
flowers and ensure reproduction—not merely wafting perfume on a spring breeze
to please the gardener. But taking
advantage of nature’s survival tactics by landscaping with scented plants can
turn any garden into a more romantic place.
When
choosing fragrant shrubs, it’s a good idea to “shop with your nose”. Visit botanic gardens, parks or nurseries
when the lilacs or roses are in bloom and make a note of your favorite
cultivars. When siting them in your
garden, try to find a warm, protected spot enclosed by hedges, walls or fences
which keep out wind and trap fragrance. And
be sure to place them near a path, window or 
sitting area where their perfume can be appreciated.
Azalea (Rhododendron spp.) Old-fashioned, fragrant Ghent
hybrids include the yellow-blotched
white ‘Daviesi’ and double, lemon-yellow ‘Narcissiflora’. ‘White Swan’ is a perfumed Knaphill
hybrid. Peach-pink Viscosum hybrids
developed from the native North American swamp azalea, R. viscosum are strongly clove-scented, and bear authentic perfume
names like ‘Soir de Paris’, ‘Arpege’ and ‘Jolie Madame’. ‘Spicy Lights’ is a perfumed salmon-pink
azalea from the hardy Minnesota-bred Northern Lights series that will reach
about 5 feet (1.6 m). Rhododendron luteum, shown at right, is a tall,
fragrant, yellow-flowered species from Europe (also known as the Pontic azalea)
with good autumn leaf color. It looks
enchanting underplanted with Scilla
non-scriptus and purple violas.
Carolina Allspice (Calycanthus floridus) Sometimes called strawberry-bush
because of the fruity scent, especially in hot weather, of the spidery
reddish-brown June flowers, (the foliage has an aromatic fragrance when
crushed), this northeast native likes moist soil in sun or light shade and
grows in a rounded shape to about 6 feet (2 m).
Golden Currant (Ribes aureum) More readily available, but not quite as strongly perfumed as buffalo or
clove currant (R. odoratum), golden
currant reaches a height of about 6 feet (2 m) and does best in full sun where
its lobed leaves turn red in fall. Kept
sheared, it makes a spicily-scented informal
hedge along a well-used path. (Currants
are alternate hosts of white pine blister-rust, so should be planted well away
from white pines.)
Daphne (Daphne spp.) Daphnes are perhaps the most
fragrant family of shrubs, their scent carrying freely outdoors and, when cut,
filling any room with delicious perfume.
Low-growing to 1 foot (30 cm), rose-daphne or garland flower
(Daphne cneorum) is an evergreen that
prefers sandy, deep, rocky, alkaline soil where it will produce fragrant pink (or
white) blossoms in very early spring and again in fall. Deadheading will produce a longer bloom
period. Zone 2B. Taller at 4 feet (1.3m) is dedicuous Daphne x burkwoodii with its cultivars
‘Somerset’ and variegated ‘Carol Mackie’, shown at left, both covered in masses
of pale pink, clove-scented, May flowers.
Daphne mezereum or February daphne is one of the
first shrubs to flower, (though usually in March or April, not as its name
suggests) when fragrant magenta flowers line the upright branches. Height is 4 feet (1.3 m)
Gardeners
in milder climates (Zone 8) looking for a challenge can try winter daphne (Daphne odora), renowned for its finicky
nature but also for the most potent fragrance of all daphnes. It grows to 4 feet (1.3 m) with small clusters
of rose-purple flowers and glossy, evergreen foliage.
Lilac (Syringa spp.) Although we think of lilacs as
fragrant shrubs, many are unscented, so it’s especially important to sniff
before you buy. Widely available and
generous with their old-fashioned perfume are common lilac (Syringa vulgaris) and its cultivars
‘Charles Joly’, ‘Madame Lemoine’, ‘Paul Thirion’, ‘Katherine Havemeyer’ and
‘Belle de Nancy’. Two dwarf forms of
Asian species are sweetly-scented: Chinese Syringa
meyeri ‘Palibin’ which can be sheared into a low hedge, and late-blooming
Korean Syringa patula ‘Miss Kim’,
whose leaves turn red-purple in fall. An
early lilac highly recommended for strong fragrance is pale mauve Syringa oblata var. dilatata; as a bonus, it
features good autumn color.
Magnolia (Magnolia spp.) Although not as pervasive as
other perfumes, many magnolias emit a scent often likened to tropical fruit,
e.g. lemon, pineapple, papaya. Noted for
fragrance are tree-like Magnolia kobus
and its hybrid M. x loebnerii ‘Merrill’
(the other parent being mildly fragrant M.
stellata). Late-blooming Oyama
magnolia (M. sieboldii) with waxy
white petals and prominent raspberry-red stamens also has a light fruity
fragrance.
Mock-Orange (Philadelphus spp.) Although hybridizing has knocked some of the scent out of
commercially available mock-oranges, a few can be relied upon to exude their
heady fragrance, redolent or oranges, jasmine and gardenia, from late May
through 
June, depending on the cultivar.
Philadelphus coronarius grows to 10 feet (3.1 m) and has
fragrant, single, white blossoms. Lemoine introductions P. x. virginalis with semi-double flowers and dwarf ‘Bouquet
Blanc’, also semi-double, are scented old-timers. ‘Minnesota Snowflake’ is double and only
slightly fragrant. ‘Galahad’ is a
Manitoba-bred mock orange with a compact form and highly fragrant single
blossoms. ‘Purity’, also Manitoba-bred
is much wider than its 5 foot height (1.6 m) and masses of sweet-scented single
flowers. Golden mock-orange, Philadelphus aureus is renowned more for
its bright lime-gold foliage than for its lightly-scented single blooms.
Rose (Rosa spp.) Most of the “old” roses that
flower primarily in June, e.g. Damasks,
Albas, Centifolias and Gallicas, are intensely perfumed. In Turkey and Bulgaria, fields of damask roses
(Rosa damascena) produce rose attar,
an essential oil used in the manufacture of perfume. Bourbon roses, such as the thornless
cerise-pink ‘Zepherine Drouhin’ are highly fragrant, and will often rebloom
throughout summer. June-blooming roses
of notable fragrance include ‘Blanc Double de Coubert, ‘Camaieux’, ‘Koenigin
von Danemark’, ‘Kazanlik’, ‘Rose de Rescht’, ‘Maiden’s Blush’, ‘Belle Isis’,
‘Rose a Parfum de l’Hay, ‘LaReine Victoria’, ‘Mme Isaac Pereire’ and ‘Baronne
Prevost’. Perfumed species roses
include Rosa hugonis (Father Hugo’s
rose); Rosa rugosa; Rosa alba ‘Semi-plena’; Rosa
gallica ‘Officinalis’, the
apothecary rose; and the striped Rosa
gallica ‘Versicolor’, shown
at right, commonly known as ‘Rosa Mundi’ and thought to be named after King
Henry II’s mistress, “fair Rosamund”.
Viburnum (Viburnum spp.) The spring-flowering viburnums
are among the most fragrant of all shrubs.
First to flower, in late 
winter or early spring even before forsythias open, is Viburnum farrerii (syn. V. fragrans). Reddish buds open to highly scented,
blush-pink blooms on a rounded, open shrub that reaches about 9 feet (3
m). It needs a protected spot to shelter
buds from late frosts. Koreanspice
viburnum (V. carlesii) is a little
hardier than V. fragrans and bears
clove-scented, waxy, white flower clusters, usually in early May. This neat, sphere-shaped shrub reaches about
5 feet in height and its leaves turn red-purple in autumn. Burkwood viburnum (V. x burkwoodii) is evergreen in milder parts of Canada. Shiny leaves and smallish scented white
flower clusters grace this May-bloomer, with a height and spread of about 6
feet (2 m). Fragrant snowball viburnum
(V. x carlcephalum) reaches about 8
feet (2.6 m) and has the largest flowers of the fragrant spring viburnums, but
its foliage is coarser than others and its growth habit tends to be
awkward.
Witch hazel (Hamamelis spp.) Except for native
Eastern witch hazel (H. virginiana)
which blooms in autumn, witch hazels are valued for their exceptionally early
flowering season, in late winter or very early spring, often under snow. Their perfume is variously described as
dusky, pungent or incense-like. Witch
hazels prefer moist soil. Most have good
fall leaf color.
Chinese
witch hazel (Hamamelis mollis) is
most fragrant, with large, spidery, golden flowers on a shrub that can reach 20
feet (6 m) in height. Especially lovely is pale yellow H. mollis ‘Pallida’. Zone
6b. H.
x intermedia is a hybrid of H. mollis
and H. japonica and includes
colorful winter-blooming cultivars such as bright yellow ‘Arnold Promise’, red
‘Diane’ and copper-orange ‘Jelena’.
Mature height is 15 feet (5 m).
Adapted from an article that
appeared originally in Canadian Gardening magazine