Creating a garden around your home is a wonderful lifelong project. There are so many aspects to a garden plan: trees, shrubs, flowers, etc. We tend to think of size and shape, color and texture, lighting and shade, and the overall picture we want to create. Most of us buy whatever is on sale at the local garden center, or merely go for familiar favorites.

We often neglect the value of adding scented plants to our home landscape, but they can add a special touch to a garden, creating a sense of romance and a special kind of beauty. Scent can take us back to childhood or call up a memory of a special place.

This article is dedicated to aromatic plants, including trees, shrubs, herbs and herbaceous perennials. While fragrant flowers like lilies and peonies are often grown primarily for their showy blooms, some of the plants on this list are less impressive or colorful visually, but will contribute to creating a beautiful scentscape in your garden.

When I first selected plants for my own home, I chose according to what would look attractive, giving little thought to aroma. In the past several years, I've begun to add aromatic plants to my yard, near the front door and around seating areas.

Below is a list of scented plants that are easy to find and easy to grow.

1. Linden Tree

Linden trees have a powerful yet sublime scent when they flower in summer. Their hauntingly beautiful, honey-like fragrance can be detected at some distance. Lindens are known to attract bees. They also can make a mess of sticky sap, so do not plant a linden near parking areas.

2. Cedars

Cedar trees offer a subtle and soothing scent and come in a wide variety of shapes and forms. The evergreen nature of a cedar also provides year-round visual interest to your yard. The Hinoki cedar has attractive, flat sprays of foliage and a delightful lemon-like aroma.

3. Fir Trees

Fir trees, particularly balsam fir, provide the wonderful perfume we associate with Christmas. Balsams are best grown in cool northern areas and do not do well in hot climates. Firs grow in an attractive conical shape and are the quintessential Christmas tree.

4. Junipers

Junipers, whether in tree or shrub form smell fresh and clean. Juniper is a hardy evergreen that produces small blue-ish colored berries that smell like gin. Choose one that grows best in your area.

5. Magnolias

While there are many magnolias, the Southern magnolia and Sweetbay magnolia produce large, waxy, creamy white blossoms that smell heavenly. Southern magnolia is a very large tree with a 40' spread. Sweetbay is a smaller version and more frost tolerant than Southern magnolia. Both have large, thick, glossy evergreen leaves that are attractive in Christmas wreaths and winter decorations.

The fruit of the tree is large and unusual and makes an interesting addition to dried flower arrangements.

6. Pine Trees

The fresh, clean scent of pine trees can create a wonderful, natural feel to a home garden. White pines are highly aromatic, tall-growing evergreens with a wide growing habit.

7. Boxwood

Boxwood is an evergreen shrub with densely packed, small oval leaves. Large and small varieties are available. Boxwood takes well to pruning and are popular topiary shrubs. The pungent smell of boxwood reminds some folks of cat urine, but I love it for its associations with old historic gardens.

8. Eucalyptus

Eucalyptus is a tree or shrub with pointed oval or round grayish-green leaves. Eucalyptus is often used in dried arrangements, or hung on doors for their clean, delightful scent. Most are not frost tolerant, but small plants can be moved indoors for the winter.

Tip: Eucalyptus is not only fragrant, but also medicinal. Dried eucalyptus leaves can be boiled, and the steam inhaled during a cold to help with congestion.

9. Lilac

Lilac is a large growing shrub with heart-shaped leaves and large clusters of small flowers that bloom in spring. During bloom time, lilacs provide a heady perfume that can fill the neighborhood.

10. Viburnum

A viburnum shrub will fill your yard with intense, sweet fragrance that really travels at the time of year when almost nothing else is blooming, in late winter or early spring. For the heaviest fragrance, choose the 'Korean Spice' variety, with its heady, vanilla-spice aroma.

11. Clematis

A flowering vine that's as attractive as it is fragrant, clematis adds beautiful summer fragrance cascading over garden walls and fences. Many varieties are highly fragranced with nuanced variations of vanilla.

12. Honeysuckle

Another highly fragrant flowering vine, honeysuckle cannot be beaten as an aromatic plant in your garden, radiating a warm, complex fragrance with notes of honey and vanilla. Grow it over a garden arch or fence and choose a highly scented variety like 'Scentsation' or 'Early Dutch'. These are all cultivars of European and native honeysuckles; avoid Japanese honeysuckle as it is invasive.

13. Sagebrush

Sagebrush of the Artemisia family is a tough shrub of the American West with gray-green leaves. The tough desert plant smells strongly of sage when it rains. Sagebrush also has many medicinal uses.

14. Alyssum

Alyssum is a low-growing plant with fine, delicate foliage crowned with clusters of tiny white flowers. Deadhead for repeat blooming. Alyssum easily reseeds. The flowers smell like honey. I've grown them in containers by the front door for a sweet welcome.

15. Hostas

Many hostas send up aromatic blooms on tall stems. The attractive foliage with its large, heart-shaped leaves grows well in the shade. The flowers have a delicate scent that seems to smell best in the evening.

16. Thyme

Thyme is a wonderful perennial herb that can be included in lots of recipes. It can grow in a small shrub or creep along the ground. Plant low growing thyme between flagstones or along pathways. When you step on thyme, a delicious warm scent fills the air.

17. Lavender

Lavender is another perennial herb that comes in many varieties. Famous for the cloud of soft blue flowers, lavender smells wonderful and makes an excellent addition to dried arrangements. Lay sprigs of dried lavender in the linen closet for a refreshing aroma that lasts for months.

Lavender grows best in alkaline soil, and for years I tried to grow it with no success. In my area, acid soil predominates, but I decided to set a small piece of broken concrete just beside or behind it. Enough of the lime leaches out to provide the alkalinity that the plant needs.

Tip: French lavender has prettier flowers, but doesn't have the characteristic beautiful fragrance. Choose English lavender for the classic scent.

18. Rosemary

Rosemary is an aromatic herb with a refreshing aroma. Rosemary plants are often trimmed to resemble little Christmas trees at the holiday season. Depending on your climate, rosemary may bloom with tiny blue flowers in spring.

19. Yarrow

Yarrow may not be the showiest plant, but it packs an aromatic punch that's unlike anything else in the garden. A complex scent that has pungent, herbal and floral notes, the entire plant is highly fragrant throughout the summer. Yarrow will also continue to give off its fragrance once it's dried.

20. Scented-Leaved Geraniums

Last but not least, the much-underrated scented-leaved pelargoniums, commonly known as geraniums, are well worth seeking out for the gorgeous fragrance of their leaves (not flowers!) The zonal-leaved pelargoniums commonly grown as bedding plants are not what you're looking for; the scented-leaved varieties look more like flowering herbs. The leaves emit gorgeous scents when touched. Try 'Orange Fizz', 'Apricot' or 'Cola Bottles' and you'll be hooked!

© 2011 Dolores Monet