What specific plants would you choose for their scent?

[Soliloquy]

I want to be able to grow some plants just for their scent alone. Does anyone have specific recommendations about which plants would be best for this?

 

[claudine]

I absolutely love lilac. Most of my neighbours grow it in their gardens and whenever I walk by, I feel extremely happy because of the scent - it's one of the most beautiful scents in the entire world.
Roses smell lovely too

 

[limcid]

I love the smell of honeysuckle (and the taste as well)! You wouldn't even have to buy any since they're so easy to find in the wild. Well, they're easy to find where I am.

 

[claudine]

Another plant that produces fragrant flowers is Lilly of the Valley. I adore it. The flowers are very small, sometimes it's hard to notice them - but the scent is magnificent.

 

[cmdr-apollo]

I looooove lavender. I love the way it looks, but I especially love the way it smells. I often pick a single lavender flower off of the plant and crush it in my hand, and rub it on my clothes... Crazy, I know! But the smell is very soothing and fresh, so I love to enjoy it throughout the day.

I also love the smell of honeysuckle but it attracts way too many bees, in my experience. I would be okay with bees if it weren't for my dumb dogs trying to eat them as they fly by... but because of the dogs, I've said NO WAY to honeysuckle.

 

[claudine]

Somehow I forgot about violets. If I was looking for flowers just for their scent alone, I would definitely choose violets. They're too small to make a garden look really pretty but their scent is the sweetest. I currently dream about violet perfumes

 

[dim]

star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides), Philadelphus mock orange, Elaeagnus ebbingei, honeysuckle, david austin gertrude jekyll roses ....

and a curry plant just to confuse visitors

 

[Philphine]

there's honeysuckle growing all around the back yard fence that's really strong, almost to the point of being cloying, but normally it's a sort of nice constant scent since there so much of it.

then a couple other things that i just catch a whiff of off and on

a few fruit trees. some had fairly nice smelling bloosoms this spring, but they're pretty small still so you had to be right up on them

i planted some scented geraniums (also called the mosquito plant, which is false advertising. it only smells like the plant that repels mosquitos). they're nice, kind of citrus-lemony smelling. and some lemongrass also (the real plant that possibly repels mosquitos), but i think i planted it wrong so i guess i'll have to try it again next year.

various mints. some in the ground from where i first made a little gazebo and planted it kind of along the path to it, and also some aquatic mint in my pond. so i get a little smell of it if i happen to step on some or move it around when i'm maintaining the pond. i recently planted more trying to get the smell a little stronger in the area.

i've also planted a couple of the other things mentioned, like lavender and lillies of the valley, but i none of it's come up yet to know how they'll be.

 

[writerkerrie]

Claudine is my new best friend! I have Lily of the Valley out front because it reminds me of my mom. Lots of rose bushes. Lilac, yet. Also, a big bush called mock orange smells amazing, too.

 

[Tmann]

Lilacs, rosemary, lily of the valley

 

[orclev]

I'm going to second (third? fourth? ) the honeysuckle suggestion, since it is one of my favorite fragrances and it's a scent that I can smell even from yards away. Hydrangeas are another big favorite of mine, and sweet pea as well! Daffodils can fill the air with a nice fragrance in the spring when they come up, which is always nice after a long winter.

 

[claudine]

It's surprising that so far no one suggested hyacinths. Personally, I adore their scent, it's quite intense and very sweet. I love them! My aunt used to grow them so they remind me of childhood, it's a very nice memory.

 

[ACSAPA]

I think night blooming jasmine smells gorgeous, almost intoxicating. It only releases the smell at night to attract butterflies. It grows in the Caribbean and hot places like Florida.
I wish I could just bottle the scent of them.

 

[Becky]

I have a bunch of white freesias in my kitchen at the moment and they smell divine!

 

[tiera patterson]

I love the way lilac, lavender, and orchids smell. They smell so good and they are such beautiful plants that you do not even mind them at all. I must say that nothing is as timeless as a rose, roses are just classic and they are gorgeous flowers through and through.