Designing A Fragrant Flower Garden
Imagine stepping out the door and smelling your garden before you even see it. The multi-sensory joy that a fragrant flower garden offers to the gardener is unparalleled in the landscape. The key to having plenty of fragrant blooms – enough to bring inside by the armful to enjoy in vases – is making sure you’ve planned your fragrant flower garden to bloom from spring all the way into fall. Read on for recommendations for some of our favorite fragrant varieties for blooms all season long, garden design ideas, and tips for keeping your wonderful-smelling cut flowers last longer once you bring them indoors.
Fragrant Blooms All Season Long
If you want to enjoy that spectacular scent of fragrant blooms all season long, you’ll want to make sure to add early, mid and late-season blooming varieties to your garden. This way you’ll not only have sweet fragrance, but color and interest in your garden from spring all the way into fall. Planning for season-long blooms is also the key to attracting pollinators to your fragrant garden. (Dual-purpose!)
Favorite Fragrant Flowers:
Bloom Time | Common Name |
---|---|
Early Season | Hyacinths (Fall Planted Bulbs) |
Early Season | Peonies (Perennial) |
Early Season | Dianthus (Perennial) |
Early Season | Miniature Daffodils (Fall Planted Bulbs) |
Early Season | Bearded Iris (Perennial) |
Early Season | Catmint (Perennial) |
Mid Season | Viola (Perennial) |
Mid Season | Bee Balm (Perennial or Seed) |
Mid Season | Phlox (Perennial) |
Mid Season | Freesia (Spring or Fall Planted Bulb) |
Mid Season | Milkweed (Perennial or Seed) |
Mid Season | Sweet Pea (Seed) |
Mid-Late Season | Lavender (Perennial) |
Mid-Late Season | Daylilies (Perennial) |
Mid-Late Season | Agastache (Perennial) |
Mid-Late Season | Oriental Lilies (Spring Planted Bulb) |
Mid-Late Season | Butterfly Bush (Perennial) |
Designing A Fragrant Flower Garden
When designing your garden, plant taller, larger varieties towards the back of the garden when planting up against your home or a fence. Plant taller varities in the center for island or circular garden beds.
Varieties that need deadheading to promote longer-lasting blooms (like Bee Balm) should be planted in an area that is easy to access, or have a path to access them. Before planting your perennials in the garden, make sure to measure the space needed between each plant so they have space to fill in and mature.
Our garden experts have designed a fragrant flower garden for you! Our Fragrant Flower Pre-Planned Garden is a collection of 26 fragrant perennials that create an easy, show-stopping statement in 72 sq feet. Pre-Planned Gardens come with planting and care instructions, and a custom garden map to make planting simple. Our Pre-Planned Gardens are an easy, affordable way to bring professional design to your home.
Plant Wildflowers For An Easy-To-Grow Fragrant Flower Garden
If you’re looking for an even easier way to get color and fragrance all season long, our Fragrant Wildflower Seed Mix is the perfect choice! Our wildflower seed mixes are designed with a broad range of flowers to provide color from spring through fall. This mix features 16 colorful flower species. The annual wildflowers will burst with scented flowers in the first season, and the perennial flowers will bring color and fragrance for years to come. You’ll have plenty of blooms to cut and bring indoors for fragrant bouquets. Plus, you can enjoy a parade of pollinators to your garden or meadow all season.
Favorite Fragrant Flower Combinations
How To Keep Fragrant Flowers Fresh In A Vase
- Cut in the early morning or late in the evening. Cooler temperatures make it easier on the cut flower to make the transition from growth to your vase.
- Choose blooms that are barely open. Flowers will open once put into water, so to ensure you’ll enjoy long-lasting color, cut flowers that have just opened or are about to open.
- Clean water. This is important! Clean, fresh water is important to keep your cut flowers lasting longer. Change the water every day if possible.
- The right temperature. Place your gorgeous bouquet in a cool area where it will last longer. Keep flowers away from hot windows or vents in the summer months.
Favorite fragrant flowers to cut and bring indoors are Peonies, Oriental Lilies, Freesia and Hyacinths. These varieties all tend to last long in a vase.
After you've planted your favorite varieties in your garden, you get to the best part: enjoying your fragrant flower garden! Sit and drink a cup of coffee or a cocktail, letting the colors and fragrance take over your senses. Read a good book on a blanket in the summer months or enjoy a warm drink on a bench by your garden in the fall. With a long-lasting, colorful and fragrant garden, the possibilities for enjoyment are endless.