Scent Garden

By Patty Smith, UC Master Gardener

Your garden can do a lot more than just look good—it can be an entire aroma festival. Whether you are planting a new area, or just filling in empty spots, consider the unique scent of each plant you chose. Purposefully incorporating aromatic leaves and flowers into your garden will add another level of sensory stimulation, beyond the pure visual enjoyment. As with any garden design, it is still essential to consider the needs of each plant only group those with similar sun, water and maintenance needs.

Scent gardens can entice inquisitive children to linger and explore. And with the right positioning, pleasant scents can waft through open windows, bringing a bit of the outside in, both during the day and into the evening.

Scent Garden Considerations

Choosing the right plant for the right place is essential for every garden design, including scent gardens. It’s important to know if a plant requires sun or shade, the climate it is best suited for, and the size to which it will grow. The plants listed in this scent garden guide are known to do well on the Central Coast and are readily available. As you choose plants, check their specifications to ensure they are planted in an area that will provide the appropriate amount of sunlight, water, and space for growing.

Seasonality is another important scent garden consideration. Ideally, your garden will provide year-round benefits and choosing plants with varying life cycles and bloom times can provide year-round scent. To achieve this, be sure to choose an array of annual and perennial plants, including evergreen and deciduous perennials Helpful definitions:

• Annual: Performs entire life cycle, from seed to flower, in one growing season. All parts of the plant die annually and must be replanted.
• Perennial: Persists for many growing seasons. The aboveground portions or leaves may dieback to the ground over winter, but the plant resprouts in the spring.
• Deciduous: Shed their leaves annually but resume growth in the spring.
• Evergreen: Retains green leaves year-round.

The scent from plants can come from either the flowers or the leaves. Scented flowers release their fragrance into the environment, so you needn’t touch the plant to smell it. Therefore, scented flowers can be installed anywhere in the garden. Scented leaves generally must be touched to release their fragrance. Therefore, consider planting them adjacent to walkways for ample opportunities to brush past them to release their fragrance. Plant scented plants in areas you frequent most for maximum enjoyment — the path to your driveway, under the window most often left open, or near your patio seating area.

Reliable Central Coast Choices for Your Scent Garden

The chart below is by no means all-inclusive. This is a short list of plants that are relatively easy to grow and known to do well in San Luis Obispo County.

References

Try Growing Fragrant Plants to Mask Dog Odors in the Yard. UC Master Gardeners of Santa Clara County. UC ANR. Try growing fragrant plants to mask dog odors in the yard - UC Master Gardeners of Santa Clara County - ANR Blogs

Brenzel, K., 2007. Sunset Western Garden Book. Menlo Park, CA: Sunset Pub. Corp.