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Fragrant Flowers

Classic Fragrant Flowers for the Landscape

By David Beaulieu, About.com

We often hear the exhortation, "Stop and smell the roses!" Indeed, roses are perhaps first to come to mind when mention is made of "fragrant flowers." However, the floral world offers many other fragrant flowers, and none need take a backseat to roses when it comes to aroma. So along with information on growing roses, below I give equal time to four other fragrant flowers, linking to resources with information on each.

Shrubs With Fragrant Flowers: Lilacs

If there's one fragrant flower I associate with the merry month of May, it's the bloom of lilacs. Their scent, wafted on a gentle evening breeze, and perhaps mixed with the smell of freshly mown grass, is the very essence of May:

Lilacs

Perennials With Fragrant Flowers: Peonies

Peonies are another classic olfactory delight from the floral world. Lilacs and peonies wage an annual battle for bragging rights with my nose. Both of these fragrant flowers put forth an extraordinary effort to win me over, in late spring. But I refuse to choose between them. My attitude: let them return year after year and try to convince me which is superior, all over again! Peonies have been grown and admired for centuries, due in part to the beauty of their blooms and foliage, their fragrance and their longevity:

Peonies

Perennials With Fragrant Flowers: Irises

Many new homeowners plant those old-time favorites, the irises, remembering the fragrant flowers from their childhoods. But when selecting an iris to plant, don't be misled by thinking, "Irises are irises." If it's fragrant flowers you're after, you'll have to make that a priority during the selection process. Here's some information on an iris I've selected specifically for the way it smells:

Irises

Herbs with Fragrant Flowers: English Lavender

English lavender, too, is famous for its fragrance. But in the case of English lavender, it's the dried, harvested product (used, e.g., in potpourris) that has such an impact on the olfactory nerve:

English Lavender

Growing Roses: Fragrant Flowers From Shakespeare

Perhaps those well-known lines from Shakespeare have had something to do with the rose's becoming the standard by which other fragrant flowers are judged:

What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.
My guide to the basics of growing roses is designed for those who wish to cut to the chase for an answer to the simple question, "What do I need to do to begin growing roses?" Just the basic considerations here; you can graduate to more detailed guides later. Requirements for soil, irrigation, spacing and sunlight are discussed:

Growing Roses

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