A Garden of Fragrance

author: Suzanne Frutig Bales Buy now!

Medieval gardeners believed that the perfume of flowers was God's breath on earth. Suzy Bales, an unabashed flower lover who tends a large garden on an island off the north shore of Long Island, tells the story of how she has come to treasure scent above all else in the garden. Her evolution as a gardener is told in a readable and entertaining style, along with practical and inspiring suggestions on how to incorporate scented flowers and foliage into the garden. We think of gardens as being visual, edible, structural, or functional, and too often overlook the olfactory, which is an invisible but powerful factor in our enjoyment of any garden. Our sense of smell is linked to the parts of our brain where moods and emotions are triggered, and where memory is stored. No wonder we so love roses and lilies, and feel nostalgic at the first scent of lilacs. One of fragrance's great charms is its elusiveness. Bales explains that a flower's scent depends on the soil, time of day, temperature, and flower color (most strongly scented flowers are white, but, oddly, most white roses are scentless). Some, such as datura and moonflower, are pollinated by moths, and so release their intoxicating fragrances after the sun sets. While we tend to regard fragrance as a gift of high summer, each season has its star performers when it comes to scenting the garden. Bales suggests planting witch hazel, sarcococca, and winter honeysuckle, all of which provide fragrance during the coldest and shortest days of the year. Spring brings daphne, lily-of-the-valley, hyacinths, and scented narcissus. In summer there is a surfeit of scents, led by heliotrope, sweet peas, roses, and lilies--and autumn can be perfumed by more than burning leaves with the planting of nicotiana, sweet autumn clematis, and harlequin glorybower. Bales inspires all gardeners to bring this repertoire of fragrance into their own gardens, in every season. --Valerie Easton