Catch the Scent With Fragrant Flowering Shrubs
Form and function are top considerations for homeowners when they’re choosing plants for their landscape. Yet, customers also want to get the biggest bang for their buck! To meet current customer expectations, plants really need to go the extra mile. Too often, fragrance has been cast aside in order to create the most vigorous and disease tolerant of plants specimens. Customers are looking to recapture that very important sensory experience in their gardens.
With blooming shrubs still gaining popularity as a category, there’s a special opportunity to promote blooming shrubs that are also fragrant. As gardens become smaller and patios and balconies more central to urban living, blooming shrubs can fill a unique niche. Incorporating fragrant blooming shrubs where residents can most closely enjoy the fragrance is key. As foundation shrubs, a framework for patios or entryway plantings, fragrant shrubs will be most appreciated. Fragrant blooming shrubs that stay compact should be considered for patio and entryway containers.
Gardenia jasminoides ‘Veitchii’, also called everblooming gardenia, is the perfect compact shrub for containers. Growing to only 4-feet tall in the landscape, this dense, compact bloomer can be kept to a tighter size for patio or entryway planters. The intensely fragrant blooms are produced continuously through spring and summer.
For something a bit more unusual be sure to check out pineapple guava. This gorgeous blooming shrub not only produces striking fragrant flowers, but also edible fruit. Its evergreen foliage is tinted silver underneath, providing unusual contrast. Flowers have a pleasant sweet fragrance, as does the fruit.
Don’t forget about foliage: Not all fragrance comes from the flowers. Pink Princess Escallonia is a tough, beautiful blooming shrub with fragrant foliage. Escallonia brightens up your landscape from spring through fall with its bright pink to rosy-red blooms. The dark green glossy leaves offer a pleasing fragrance.
