Fragrant Plants Throughout the Year

Source: Walter Reeves

I don’t think I appreciated the value of landscape fragrance until the last few years in my garden. I was delighted a few weeks ago when I discovered, by nose alone, a newly blooming shrub. Here is a list of fragrant plants that do well locally, in approximate order of blooming:

January

Fragrant wintersweet – Chimonanthus praecox
 Winter honeysuckle – Lonicera fragrantissima
 Paperbush – Edgeworthia papyrifera and Edgeworthia chrysantha
 Tea olive – Osmanthus fragrans

February

Daphne – Daphne odora
 Paperbush – Edgeworthia papyrifera and Edgeworthia chrysantha

March – April

Koreanspice viburnum – Viburnum carlesii
 Coastal flame azalea – Rhododendron austrinum
 Piedmont azalea – Rhododendron canescens
 Alabama azalea – Rhododendron alabamense
 Lily of the valley – Convallaria majalis
 Sweetshrub – Calycanthus florida
 Banana shrub – Magnolia figo (Michelia figo)

May

Confederate jasmine – Trachelospermum jasminoides
 Rose – Rosa various varieties

– Gardenia jasminoides

June – July

Moonflower vine –Ipomea alba

Southern magnolia – Magnolia grandiflora

Sweetbay magnolia – Magnolia virginiana
 – Ipomea alba
 Stargazer lily – Lilium x ‘Stargazer’
 Flowering tobacco – Nicotiana alata
 Summersweet azalea – Rhododendron viscosum
 Ginger lily – Hedychium coronarium
 Four o’clock – Mirabilis jalapa

August

Eleagnus – Elaeagnus umbellata
 Tea olive – Osmanthus fragrans

September

Sweet autumn clematis – Clematis maximowicziana

October

Tea olive – Osmanthus fragrans (repeat bloom)

daphne

paperbush (edgeworthia)

gardenia

‘Stargazer’ lily