Plants can delight, entice, and sometimes confuse our senses, including our sense of smell.
Many flowering plants have evolved fragrant blooms to attract pollinators, but any part of a plant could be aromatic. Consider the aromatic roots of ginger or the sweet and spicy scent of sassafras twigs.
The plant world is full of interesting smells just waiting to be explored. Here are a few favorites from the horticulturalists at the William T. Kemper Center for Home Gardening.
Hosta
A mainstay of the shade garden, these clumping perennials are usually grown for their showy foliage, with the blooms being seen as secondary. But there are a good number of Hosta selections with fragrant flowers that are worth stopping to enjoy.
Over 175 cultivars registered with the American Hosta Society are described as having fragrant blooms. Three stand-out selections are Hosta ‘Guacamole’, H. ‘Fragrant Bouquet’, and H. ‘Royal Standard’.
‘Guacamole’ was discovered as a sport of ‘Fragrant Bouquet’, and both produce spikes of aromatic, white, tubular flowers in mid-summer above medium to large sized clumps of light green leaves with yellow to white streaked margins.
‘Royal Standard’ is a large Hosta that can reach up to 5 feet across and produces, large, fragrant, white blooms on tall flowering stalks in late summer.
Pearl Millet (Pennisetum glaucum ‘Jade Princess’)
The staff at the Kemper Center were pleasantly surprised to discover that the bottlebrush type blooms of this ornamental annual grass smell quite strongly of maple syrup.
The purple-brown flowering spikes contrast nicely with the chartreuse foliage, and this ornamental millet does well in the heat and humidity of St. Louis summers.
Fringe Tree (Chionanthus Virginicus)
The fringe tree is underutilized despite being native to much of the southern and eastern United States including parts of Missouri.
Cloud-like clusters of white blooms cover the branches in spring and have a pleasant but subtle, sweet and spicy fragrance. Mature trees will reach around 20′ tall with a similar spread.
Spice Bush (Lindera Benzoin)
The common name of this native shrub refers to the spicy aroma produced by crushing the leaves or young twigs of this plant. The early spring flowers are also fragrant.
Mature plants will take on a broad, rounded shape and make a great addition to moist areas of the garden.
Prairie Dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis)
Not many grasses can claim to have fragrant blooms, and perhaps none are as contentious as prairie dropseed.
Airy clusters of tiny blooms are held above the clumps of narrow, hair-like foliage from late summer into fall and produce a noticeable (some may say pungent) scent that has variously been described as resembling a combination of coriander, popcorn, honey, sunflower seeds, and melted wax.
swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)
This native milkweed can reach around four feet tall, with upright, branching stems topped with rounded clusters of fragrant, pink flowers from mid to late summer.
It is a great choice for rain gardens or areas with evenly moist to wet soil and full sun. A host plant for the now endangered monarch butterfly, the flowers also attract other pollinators including bees, flies, and occasionally even hummingbirds.
Chinese winter hazel (Corylopsis sinensis)
Related to the familiar witch hazels (genus Hamamelis), Chinese winter hazel is a large shrub that features drooping clusters of pale yellow, blooms in early spring.
The flowers have a diffuse but sweet fragrance.
Star Magnolia (Magnolia stellata)
This magnolia species is endangered in its native Japan, but it is popular in cultivation and its fragrance perfumes parks and gardens around the world.
The white, early spring blooms have a bright and vernal fragrance. A good cultivar for the St. Louis region, ‘Waterlily’, blooms around two weeks later than the species and so the blooms are less likely to be affected by late frosts.
Justine Kandra | Horticulturalist
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