FORM
A Place for Design
Smells of Spring
As summer begins to awake plants and people, spring smells drift through the air. Some of our favorite garden perennials bring both color and delightful fragrances to the garden.
Spring calls to mind not only the awakening of nature from a quiet slumber, but the awakening of the fragrant nature of life. Some of my first Rocky Mountain memories are defined by the olfactory nature of the West.
A few of my favo
rites:
• Budding cottonwoods, now budded and leafed
• The soil and earth as it becomes exposed from under the snow
• An evergreen note from the increasing strength of pines and firs as they warm
• Wild onions in the hills
Am I wrong in suggesting that our air itself posses a different fragrant note? Now is the time to be planting some fabulous specimens that will help to carry those wonderful smell memories through the summer.
Being of selfish nature, I want everyone in town to have fragrant plants so that we can all experience them as we go about our day.One great example are the Asiatic/Oriental lilies. In addition to providing a fabulous scent, they also add great textures and colors to a perennial garden bed. (Oriental and Asiatic lilies’ sun-loving, short growing season needs, non-fussy soil requirements, and their hardy bulb structure result in a plant that requires only minimal care in our snowy mountain climate.)
Lavender is another great fragrant garden plant. Surprisingly, English & French lavender work great here in Ketchum in the right locations (full sunshine) and soils (well drained). The lavender, if harvested, can al
so be enjoyed year round. Or you could fly to France.
Another favorite of ours is Monarda, commonly named bee balm. This family, while it doesn’t overpower you with its scent, adds a wonderful aroma to any perennial garden. This species flowers during the summer here and can handle wetter soils and partial shade. Some favorite Monarda cultivars are Blue Stocking, Marshall’s Delight and Raspberry Wine. Monarda is in the mint family and many of these plants do well here in the mountains. Some native species such as horsemint are somewhat available in the trade. You might recall hiking or biking through some stands of the horsemint with its feathery purple flower spikes up on the higher parts of the Cold Springs Trail.
Enjoy the warming smells of spring and summer, but if you are mourning the passing of winter, check out these fun winter fragrance options at Demeter Fragrance. Something for everyone.
And here are some great “how to grow” websites for our favorite fragrant plants:
Growing Asiatic / Oriental Lilies
Growing Lavender
Growing Bee Balm
Email
Print
Feed
