The garden can be just as attractive in the evening as it is during the day. The attractiveness of the garden space in the evening and at night is provided by the variety of aromas emanating from fragrant plants. Flowers and shrubs, capable of exuding noble odors, are specially planted in those parts of the site where people like to relax and communicate. Also, fragrant flowers are placed along the paths leading to the house, gazebo, outdoor shower and other garden buildings. Familiar aromas are permanently imprinted in the memory, reminding a person of their native places. Surrounding yourself with your favorite flowers in a new place of residence, you can overcome nostalgia and drown out the longing for the garden, which had to be sold or left for a long time. Over time, new scents are added to the known aromas, the carriers of which the gardener learns from friends or in special literature.
The beauty of annual flowers is that you can enjoy their smells in the year they are planted. With the onset of the new season, you can change the exposure, experimenting with fragrances until you find the desired bouquet. What fragrant annual flowers are most often cultivated in gardens and in personal plots?
Mattiola two-horned or night violet
The inconspicuous appearance of the small flowers of Matthiola bicorn can alienate the novice gardener. Indeed, this cruciferous plant does not shine with beauty. Its strength lies in a spicy sweetish scent that spreads in the evening hours around the blossoming tiny flowers. The enchanting scent of matthiola bicorn remains throughout the night. No wonder this annual has another common name – night violet.
The flowering of mattiola bicorno lasts throughout the summer. Even the first frosts are not terrible for this unpretentious plant. The flowering period of an individual 4-petal flower lasts no more than five days, after which a fruit is formed that has the shape of a pod with two peculiar horns located at its top.
Inconspicuous flowers of a night violet against the background of a bright flower garden with the onset of dusk begin to savor, filling the air with an unforgettable aroma
The night violet is sown in early spring directly into the ground. The planting process can be divided into several stages, maintaining certain time intervals between them (12-15 days). Despite the fact that Matthiola Bicornus prefers sunny places, it can also be grown in shaded areas of the garden.
Mattiola gray-haired: blooms beautifully and smells good
Gray-haired mattiola, which is also called levkoy, is fundamentally different from its two-horned namesake. This plant is valued not only for its honey aroma, but also for its large double flowers that bloom in the form of a cap at the top of woody or slightly branched stems. The plant can reach a height of 80 cm.For those who do not like giants, dwarf varieties have been bred, the height of which does not exceed 20 cm.The flowers of gray-haired mattiola can be simple (4-petal) and double (70-petal), and the latter are capable of blooming within three weeks.
Levkoy or gray-haired mattiola is unusually beautiful and surprisingly fragrant. The pleasant smell intensifies in the evening and lasts until the morning.
Lush double flowers do not produce seeds. Seed material is obtained only from simple flowers. From half of the collected seeds, plants grow with simple flowers, and from the other half – with double flowers. Levkoe varieties have been developed, in which this ratio is increased in favor of plants with double flowers. In order for the gray-haired mattiola to bloom in the year of sowing, it is necessary to sow seeds for seedlings in March.
Fragrant tobacco – delicate aroma in a flower bed and in a pot
Another striking representative of odorous annuals grown by amateur gardeners. Early varieties of fragrant tobacco were distinguished by long stems and white gramophone flowers that opened in the late afternoon. Later, more compact varieties were bred, differing from each other not only in the height of the plant, but also in the color of the flowers.
Now you can buy fragrant tobacco, the flowers of which will have a raspberry, red, pinkish or lemon-yellowish tint. Moreover, in the daytime, the flowers do not close. However, plants with white flowers have the most pronounced aroma. It is best to grow scented tobacco through seedlings to ensure early flowering of the plant. Seedlings are afraid of spring frosts, so tobacco seedlings are planted in a permanent place with the onset of real heat. The plant feels equally well in areas illuminated by sunlight or in partial shade.
Some growers keep the scented tobacco until the next season by replanting the plant in a flower pot before frost. The transplanted plant is brought into the house, where, after a short rest, it begins to bloom again and fill the home with the most delicate aroma. With the arrival of spring, the dug out plant is returned to its original place.
Fragrant tobacco is able to conquer the amateur gardener not only with its honey aroma, but also with large flowers similar in structure to gramophones
To prolong the flowering of scented tobacco, it is necessary to promptly rid the plant of dried flowers. This measure will serve the intensive formation of new buds.
Sweet peas – fragrant two-meter vines
Among climbing garden plants, sweet peas are famous for their pleasant aroma. At the moment, there are about a hundred species of this plant, and the number of varieties reaches a thousand. In this varietal abundance, you can find plants with small and large (6 cm in diameter) flowers that have a variety of shades of the color palette. The smell of sweet peas is most pronounced in the early varieties. Hybrids bred later exude weaker aromas, but have high decorative properties.
Two-meter lianas, clinging to the supports with antennae, perfectly cope with the task of vertical gardening of gazebos, verandas, pergolas, hedges, etc. In small gardens, this plant is used to screen areas given for growing vegetables. Low-growing (dwarf) varieties, reaching a height of no more than 30 cm, are planted in containers or hanging baskets.
Delicate sprouts of sweet peas do not tolerate transplanting well, therefore it is recommended to sow seeds directly into the heated soil. Three peas are thrown into the hole, which are pre-soaked in warm water for a day.
An airy wall of sweet peas looks elegant and sophisticated. Under cover of darkness, each flower emits a delicate aroma that attracts all living things
Fragrant mignonette: a centuries-old aroma
Fragrant mignonette has been cultivated in gardens for a long time. The love scenes of many novels written in the XNUMXth century unfold against the backdrop of the sweet and heady scent of mignonette. Modern flower growers find a place in the garden to plant this amazing plant. At the same time, gardeners are attracted not by the simple beauty of ordinary-looking greenish mignonette flowers, but by their delicate fragrance in the evening and at night. Although breeders managed to get decorative varieties of this fragrant plant with a more attractive color of inflorescences:
- red-green (Red Monarch);
- yellowish red (“Waving”);
- pinkish copper (“Ruby”);
- light green (“Giant”);
- dark brown (“Victoria”);
- intense red (“Goliath”).
In open ground, the seeds of fragrant mignonette are sown in the last decade of April or in the first week of May. Seed germination is influenced by weather and soil moisture. Under optimal conditions, mignonette shoots can be seen in one to two weeks. The plant loves freedom, therefore, frequent shoots are necessarily thinned out, maintaining a distance of 15-20 cm between adjacent shoots.
Fragrant mignonette is a time-tested aromatic plant. Prized for the sweet specific smell of small flowers
Reseda loves open spaces, well lit by the sun. In dry summers, caring for mignonette consists of abundant watering. Fertilizing with mineral fertilizers contributes to the intensive flowering of the plant, and the regular collection of faded flowers contributes to the appearance of new inflorescences.
You can also equip a flower bed-first aid kit, read about it:
Iberis: just a month for pleasure
Like many representatives of fragrant plants, Iberis has a modest appearance. But the aroma that comes from this plant during the short flowering period gives an unforgettable pleasure. This annual blooms for only a month, while 40, or even 50 days pass from the moment the seeds are sown before the first flowers appear. In gardens, two types of this annual plant are most often cultivated:
- Iberis bitter with white inflorescences;
- Iberis umbellate with flat cap-shaped inflorescences, the shade of which varies from white to lilac-pink.
Iberis is suitable for growing on the balcony, which differs from its counterpart in its compact size and neat shape.
Learn more about planting and growing.
Alyssum marine – floral carpet with the smell of honey
A low-growing annual blooming from the first days of summer until late autumn. The plant does not grow in height (ceiling – 20 cm), but in width, growing up to 30 centimeters or more. Alyssum grows wherever it is planted: on flower beds, borders, rockeries and alpine slides, in balcony boxes and flowerpots. This annual can even grow between the stone tiles of the garden paths, filling the garden’s pedestrian zone with a honey scent.
Alyssum is an annual low-growing plant with a pronounced aroma. The compact bushes grow to form a carpet. Suitable for framing flower beds and borders, and for filling rocky gardens
The flowers of alyssum marine are white or purple in color, which is used when planting plants together. After a cosmetic haircut and abundant watering, the alissum is ready for a new wave of flowering. Having planted this fragrant annual once, you do not have to worry about over-sowing seeds for two to three years. Alyssum reproduces well by self-seeding.
More information about the features of growing alissum in the garden:
The pleasant-smelling perennials, of course, include roses. The wonderful aroma of these beautiful flowers is perfectly complemented and set off by such spicy plants as sage, oregano, catnip, wormwood, geranium, and cuff. The listed species have long been included in the suite of a flower of noble origin. When composing the composition, preference is given to multi-flowered varieties of polyanthus roses.
The scent of roses does not need advertising. These perennial flowers were once available only to a select few, and now every gardener can plant them.
Only peonies can compete in the power of beauty and aroma with roses. The most fragrant of them are varieties of peony lactocyanin, the aroma of which can be felt at a sufficient distance from the plant. The strength of the scent of a blooming peony depends on the age of the perennial. The air temperature and humidity level affects the intensity of the smell. In the evening, peony flowers are not devoid of aroma, however, the scent picks up peak values closer to noon.
You can learn how to grow peonies from the material:
The peony bush during the flowering period is an adornment of any garden. The wonderful aroma of terry flowers spreads throughout the site, as if inviting to look at the hero of the occasion
Dozens of varieties of peonies have been bred with various aromas:
- sweetish;
- apple;
- lemon;
- floral;
- spicy;
- tart;
- musky;
- mint;
- honey, etc.
In addition to roses and peonies, a number of phloxes, lilies, daffodils, hyacinths, carnations and other plants can be attributed to fragrant perennials. Floral perennials are perfectly complemented by fragrant shrubs, among which are lilac, mock orange (garden jasmine), honeysuckle, white acacia, viburnum and many others.
