Fragrance is Often Overlooked

Fragrance is one of our five most basic senses – but sadly it is often overlooked when creating a landscape or garden.”

Who am I quoting? Myself! I said that before in an earlier article on this topic. I have said it in presentations about the topic. No doubt I shall say it more in the future.

Cover image: fragrant and edible Tagetes lucida, the sweet marigold. Image courtesy of the Raulston Arboretum.

Why Add Fragrant Plants?

The simple answer to why you might want to add fragrance to the landscape. Because it is good for you. It is good for the body to breathe natural fragrances made by plants, not artificial ones created in a factory made by chemically manipulating petroleum.

gardening-with-encelia-brittlebush-copyright WJ Schrenk — The leaves and flowers of brittlebush, *Encelia farinosa*, are fragrant. Image courtesy W Schrenk, taken “on the way to 29Palms.”

Natural fragrances are good for the body and your spirit or soul. And we are Gardening with Soule after all! Joking aside, Health Practitioners are urging people to get out into nature to reset the human internal equilibrium. There are trends such as “forest bathing” said to help heal the body. Many people are eased by going for a walk or hike in nature, and they may not know exactly why, but a big part of it is subliminal scent cues offered to your body through your nose.

Objections to Fragrant Plants

flowers of tagetes-palmeri-palmers-marigold copyright JA Soule — *Tagetes palmeri* – the Copper Canyon marigold can tolerate more sun than its cousin, but afternoon shade is a must for this Sky Island native.

When I worked as a Garden Coach, helping people choose plants for their landscape, I learned to discuss fragrance early in the process. I can’t count the times I heard these two objections to fragrant plants.

“Nothing stinky!”

One spouse or the other would say, “Nothing stinky!” Then we had to spend some time to figure out exactly what they considered stinky. Some people object to the musky scented fragrances, like patchouli. Others find peppery fragrances, like sage, to be objectionable.

If you find certain scents objectionable, then I suggest visiting your local nursery before planting to check the actual scent of plants. I love the faint anise background notes to the native marigolds (Tagetes), but I also like black licorice.

“I Can’t Smell Anything.”

True physical long-term anosmia (lack of sense of smell) is very rare. Most people who say they can’t smell anything simply can not consciously identify scents. The deeper parts of the brain can identify smells, especially smells that might mean danger, like smoke.

redish flowers and of the shrub poliomintha longiflora copyright W Anderson — Maderean sage, or *Poliomintha longiflora* is a hummingbird shrub with mildly scented leaves that can be made into a soothing herbal tea. Image courtesy W. Anderson

Opposite to danger scents are the scents from the times that the body/brain felt safe. These are often linked to childhood memories. Hot cocoa and popcorn for some, harkening back to childhood Christmas Eve perhaps. For some it’s the scent of newly mown hay, meaning summertime freedom from school and time spent in the fields with relatives. Hard work but also a sense of being a part of something greater than just ones self – the family and the farm.

Besides, if you truly can’t smell anything, they you should not object to plants that have fragrance to them. Plant some fragrant plants because they can ease the inner parts of your brain.

soule-gardening-fragrant-plant — Creosote bush in bloom. Photo courtesy S. Shebs.

Scents Released

While many plants have fragrant flowers, and they release the scents to the air to travel for long distances – to attract pollinators. Think about the fragrance of citrus blossoms. (If you are new to the Southwest, just wait until Spring!) Leaves are a different matter.

Most fragrances from leaves are more for up close action. Fragrant foliage generally exists to tell critters like rabbits or grasshoppers to NOT eat the plant. The bunny has to hop in close, or the grasshopper actually lands on the plant to crush tiny hairs or take a nibble or two to open plant cells and thus releasing a scent that warns of inedibility.

grapefruit tree in bloom — Citrus in bloom has a heavenly fragrance!

One good example of this is how humans like “minty fresh breath” with toothpaste, gum, breath mints, and perhaps a cup of mint tea sweetened with honey. But in reality the mint plant makes mint oils to keep pests away. It doesn’t want you to consume the leaves! Indeed, most mint plants never get bothered by animals. Their main problem is fungi. But that is a whole ‘nother topic.

The Desert Smells Like Rain

There are a number of chemical compounds that plants make in their leaves that are only released when the leaves are wetted. The iconic Southwestern creosote bush is one such plant. Other desert plants like the various species of aloysia, many of the native sages, and the native perennial marigolds are also are highly fragrant when wetted by rain.

I told you these types of fragrances because the type of fragrance release will somewhat dictate where you should plant your fragrant plants. (I told you that so I could tell you this.)

aloysia also called oreganillo growing in the wild copyright TLebgue — Aloysia, also called oreganillo. Image courtesy T. Lebague

Placing Scented Plants in the Garden

Plants with strongly scented flowers (citrus) and “wettable” plants like creosote can be planted almost anywhere because their scents carry. Mildly scented flowers and plants that need to be rubbed to release scent should be close to living or “traffic” areas.

Plants that have flowers that open and fill the night with fragrance should be placed in areas easily accessible in the dark. It’s something to consider when creating a Moon Garden.

More than Eyes and Nose

Yes, most of us want gardens that appeal to our eyes year round. But why just please one sense when we have five?! A garden should be for smelling as discussed above -but then there is the sense of touch to consider!

I will come back to plants for touch as a topic, as well as more on fragrant plants as a topic. Indeed, I guess I should make a Resources page about these. But for today, I wanted to share the idea of fragrance in your garden so you can consider it – in case you are thinking about adding a plant or two to your landscape at some point in the future. It is the start of Autumn as I write this, and a fine time for planting across the Southwest.

Many Butterfly Plants are Fragrant

Book For AZ, NV, NM

Because native cotton is a host plant for lepidoptera – consider how to grow other butterfly plants with my book Butterfly Gardening in Southern Arizona, Revised Edition.

It says “southern Arizona” because I am nerdily precise, and when I first wrote it I had not done enough research on other parts of the Southwest. I now know that the plants discussed in this handy guide will grow in Southern Nevada, Eastern California, Across the deserts of Arizona, into Southern New Mexico, and through Big Bend into the Texas Hill Country.

Published by locally by Tierra del Sol Institute – whose mission statement is “Helping people live in harmony with their environment.” All the profits from the sale of the book go to their Horticulture Therapy programs.

Note. This slender volume was printed in Tucson by Arizona Litographers, the first ever printing press in America to be run entirely on green energy. They have won awards for their efforts to reduce impact upon the earth, and thus fit well with the Tierra del Sol mission to help people live more lightly on this earth.

Legal

© Article copyright Jacqueline A. Soule. All rights reserved. You must ask permission to republish an entire blog post or article. Okay to use a short excerpt but you must give proper credit. You must also include a link to the original post on my site. No stealing photos.