28-06-2025
What to plant for summer scent
As I walk around my garden (and any I'm visiting) I will naturally open up my nostrils to 'full intake' setting. The best gardens are immersive, tickling all the senses, and scent can mark each season almost as clearly as sight. In autumn there's an earthiness, in spring a freshness and winter brings many scented plants into flower to cut through the crisp air. Summer has a different identity in the fragrance department: headier, richer and more lingering perhaps, with some perfumes taking us back to childhood or transporting us around the world.
Jasmine does it all for me. When I smell the common jasmine I am taken back to a holiday in Tunisia (how exotic in the 1970s!) where one balmy evening all the children were adorned with a jasmine garland. The fragrance and evening will stay with me for ever. It was a different jasmine — Jasminum sambac, commonly called Arabian jasmine and the national flower of Tunisia — but the scent is close enough.
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Summer scent is often enjoyed in the evenings, as many plants pump out their offerings after dusk to attract the moths that pollinate them. There are hundreds of wonderfully fragrant roses (including my rambler 'Paul's Himalayan musk', which is wafting its unmissable scent in every direction), but I'm sticking to others for this piece as there are many to fill your nostrils, and in a small garden just one or two should do the job nicely.
There are a few, some hardier than others. The hardiest is the common jasmine (Jasminum officinale), which is fast-growing, a little unruly perhaps, but great for growing over a pergola or shed. J officinale 'Devon cream' is smaller (3m in height and spread), but the creamy white flowers are a bit larger and highly scented too. Trachelospermum jasminoides (commonly called star jasmine) is not a jasmine at all but still a great evergreen climber with a similar fragrance.
Again, a huge range (make sure you buy ones with scent as they don't all have it), but you can't beat Lilium regale, which grows to 1.5m and carries huge trumpet-shaped, fully perfumed flowers that alone will fill a small space. Plant bulbs from early autumn to mid spring. Be mindful it is toxic to cats.
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A lovely evergreen, silver-leafed shrub reaching 4m in height and spread. In summer it delivers clusters of yellow flowers that smell distinctly of pineapple. Grows best against the warmth and protection of a south-facing wall.
I've inherited a few and wow, their scent is fabulous. Vase-shaped shrubs. Philadelphus 'Virginal' is the most statuesque form (height 3m x spread 2.5m) with double white flowers; P 'Belle étoile' is more compact (height 1.2m x spread up to 2m) — ideal for the smaller garden with an arching wide habit and masses of simple, open white flowers with an orange tinge and a wonderful scent.
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Perennials with a sweet to spicy scent. There are plenty of varieties to go for, including paniculata 'eventide' with mauve blooms that stand out in the evening light and 'Franz Schubert' with soft pink flowers. There are annual phlox varieties too with good scent.
Loose climbers, essential in a cottage garden. There are many to choose from; one of my favourites is Lonicera periclymenum 'Serotina' for its creamy white flowers with a dark purple streak giving a two-tone look overall. It has a classic honeysuckle scent and flowers longer and later than others, sometimes from July through to October. If it gets out of hand and turns into a bird's nest, cut it back quite hard in spring to rejuvenate it. You may miss out on its flowers for a year, but it'll be back.
A star plant for evening scent, this tall, statuesque biennial has sprays of elegant, white, drooping trumpet-shaped flowers that deliver a sweet jasmine aroma. Sow seed in spring for flowers the following year or buy in pots — it's not too late to plant out now. Height 1.5m x spread 60cm.
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A biennial with large, lemon-scented yellow flowers on tall, purple-tinged stems that open at dusk to fill the evening garden with fragrance. Sow two every year to ensure self-seeding and reliable flowering every summer. Grow in plenty of sun on free-draining, even poor soil. The showy evening primrose (Oenothera speciosa) has pink or white flowers.
Ah, the scent of summer. Sweet and airy fragrance and ideal for cut flowers to bring into the house. Climbing annual plants reach about 2m in height. Sow seed October to February or buy in pots ready to go in spring. Lathyrus odoratus 'Cupani' (two-tone with maroon upper petals and violet wings), the original, was introduced in 1699 and has a fabulous scent. Huge range of colours available.
