Peony  smells as lovely as it looks -photo 250News

Have you ever noticed the fragrance of a plant before seeing it? There are some perennials such as peonies, that not only have beautiful flowers, but the flowers are also very fragrant. Fragrance can play an important part when choosing perennials for the flowerbed, especially when planting them near an open window, door or deck . Other perennials such as Sage have aromatic foliage that when touched, releases its fragrance. These can be enjoyed for the length of the growing season, and are ideal when planted along a path or near a door where they will be brushed against. Perennials with fragrant foliage often come with other attributes such as being drought tolerant. Some of the more fragrant perennials to choose from.

• Beebalm’s entire plant is fragrant. The foliage has a nice minty-lemon aroma when touched and was used to flavour tea. The showy flowers have a nice scent that attracts bees, butterflies and hummingbirds, and also make an attractive cut flower or can be dried. Beebalm oil is used in making perfume.
• Gasplants have heavily scented flower spikes and aromatic lemon scented, attractive foliage and stems. They grow well in hot dry areas. It is named gasplant because on hot days the oil it emits can be ignited by holding a flame near the flowers. Once the plant has become established it can live for up to twenty years
• Lily of the Valley, is an early blooming perennial, that can be found growing almost anywhere as it is tolerant of different growing conditions. Use it as a low growing ground cover under trees, woodland gardens, and borders. The tiny white bell-shaped flowers have a sweet scent that is the base for perfumes.
• Peonies, can be seen blooming now. The large, showy, fragrant flowers come in a different shades of red, pink, white and yellow and can be single, double, and semi double. Peonies are tough, long living perennials, that do best when planted in a sunny location in a moist well-drained soil.
• Garden Phlox, have clusters of tiny fragrant flowers that grow on stems that rise above the foliage. There are several varieties with different coloured flowers that are all very fragrant and make beautiful bouquets.
• Pinks (Dianthus), are a low growing, early blooming perennial. The tiny delicate flowers have a sweet scent and if dead-headed the flowering season will be lengthened. Will self sow if a few finished flowers are left on the plant. Plant in a sunny location with well drained soil.
• Sage (Artemisia), is grown for its silver, aromatic foliage. There are several different varieties that do well in our area. Sage is a good plant for those hard to grow areas as it is very drought tolerant and will grow in poor soil, although it should be well-drained. The silver/green foliage make a beautiful contrast to bright coloured plants especially purples

-Jos

Jos Van Hage owns and operates two Art Knapp Home and Garden Centres in Prince George

• Highway 16 west at Kimball Road
• Highway 97 north at Northwood Pulpmill Road