Some of The Best Garden Plants for Fragrance in Winter
Some of the best garden plants for fragrance are found in winter gardens in order to attract the few insects that are around – and there’s nothing quite as alluring as scent! It is something no garden should be without, particularly in the darkest depths of winter when the whiff of a fragrant flower can truly lift the spirits. There’s a common misconception that gardens lose their vitality and scent during the winter months. However, for those in the know, winter is not a season devoid of fragrance; it’s a time when certain resilient plants step into the spotlight.
Most winter flowering plants, although flowers are small, have very good scent. Shrubs that are flowering at the moment include one of my favourites, the winter honeysuckle, Lonicera fragrantissima. I made a mistake when I planted mine right at the far end of the garden – it really needs to be nearer the door to be fully appreciated. Fortunately, winter honeysuckles and other fragrant shrubs happen to make excellent cut flowers, so you can surround yourself with the scent of the outdoors all day long if you so wish by bringing a few sprigs into the house.
Other fragrant winter flowering shrubs include Viburnum x bodnantense. This beauty grows into a large shrub, which given space, will produce small pompom flowers in delicate white or pastel pink shades starting from mid-autumn until early spring. Providing a succession of scented blooms right when you need them most.
Daphnes are one of the Best Garden Plants for Fragrance
If you have a small garden, you couldn’t do much better than Daphne bholua, a shade-loving, tiny, evergreen shrub with highly fragrant, delicate white or pink blooms.
Sarcococca hookeriana is another excellent candidate for smaller, shady spots. This fragrant plant produces a jasmine-like scent so powerful you will almost certainly smell it before you see it.
Another strong contender for the best winter scent is wintersweet, or Chimonanthus praecox which lives an unassuming life all year with plain green leaves that are easily overlooked. But very soon its bare branches will erupt into waxy yellow flowers with a spicy, sweet scent that can stop you dead in your tracks.
Much maligned as typical ‘car park plants,’ mahonias are worth giving a go in a domestic setting. In a shady spot, Mahonia x media ‘Winter Sun’ will create towering rosettes of sulphur-yellow spiked flowers from November to March rewarding you with a fragrance reminiscent of lily-of-the-valley and flowers that glow brightly in wintry sunlight.
To enjoy any of these fragrant wintery treasures, plant them somewhere that you will walk past frequently. Perhaps at the entrance to your house, creating a wonderful welcome for visitors to your home over the festive season.
So, step outside, and explore a sensory journey through winter’s fragrant plants. The garden may be asleep, but its scents are very much awake and ready to enchant those willing to seek them out. Winter, it turns out, is not a season of dormancy for fragrance but a time for nature to offer its most subtle and intriguing perfumes.
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