Fragrant Plants

The fragrant very large 5" wide cupped flowers, when pollinated, produce the largest fruit of any of the Passion Fruits and mature to be 5-6" wide and 8-12" long (wow!). The Giant Granadilla, Passiflora quadrangularis, is a vigorous tropical vine with winged square stems and large oval leaves. It prefers a deep, well-drained, moist to average moist, fertile soil and a full to partly sunny position. High humidity and temperatures of 60^oF or more are required for fruit set and pollination. The Giant Granadilla is considered to be self-sterile and so it requires another species or a different clone (ours are clonally propagated), like Passiflora phoenicia 'Ruby Glow', for cross pollination. Caterpillar host: Gulf Fritillary, Julia Butterfly, Variegated Fritillary, and Zebra Longwing. Item# 11818

The dark colored spikes and calyxes are adorned with 1" long, deep magenta-purple, two-lipped tubular flowers that are set against a backdrop of contrasting golden to chartreuse spring foliage. The brightly colored, nectar rich flowers are sure to draw hummingbirds as well as bees and the occassional butterfly. Golden Rosiene Salvia or Jame Sage, a hybrid selection grouped with Salvia x jamensis but with quilted foliage similar to Littleleaf Sage, is a compact perennial Salvia growing to about 12-16" high and with unique yellow and chartreuse, quilted, fragrant foliage that may deepen into green tones as summer arrives. The fragrant foliage may be evergreen in mild winter climates and plants are reported to be hardy into zone 7. Provide this tough perennial Salvia with a well-drained, fertile soil with average moisture, although, fully established plants are somewhat drought resistant the plants will flower best where they have at least some moisture available during the growing season. New to the US for 2025! Image courtesy of Jadelty Nursery, all rights reserved. Item# 13505

Large, double to triple flowered or more, intensely fragrant, long lasting flowers open a soft primrose yellow and age to a golden yellow to near orange. Goldflame's rich perfume lasts into the morning and is sure to turn heads and attract the local hummingbird moth population! It begins flowering at 4-5' high making it well adapted to container culture. Angel's Trumpets are fast growing tropical shrubs that act-like die-back perennials in the northern parts of their range but readily return from the roots in spring. Item# 11078

Green, gold, and cream colored variegated foliage adds pink and orange tones with new spring growth that adorns the reddish to bronze young stems. Mature plants can produce clusters of small, fragrant, white, tea-olive like flowers on the previous year's growth in fall attracting a variety of pollinators on warmer days. The Goshiki Holly Leaf Tea Olive, a selection of Osmanthus heterophyllus, is a densely branching, slow growing, evergreen shrub growing to about 4-5' high and 3-4' wide in about 5 years and potentially to 10' high and 8' feet in 10 or more years, but can be kept smaller with pruning. The colorful, glossy, medium-textured, holly-like foliage will have the most intense colors and plants will be most apt to flower in sunnier conditions, although, the plants are fairly shade tolerant. The Goshiki Holly Leaf Tea Olive has been selected as a Great Plant Pick for the Northwest thanks to its toughness and reliability in the garden and landscape. Item# 13564

Strongly fragrant, long-lasting, very double, 1.5", white blooms never seem to let you down when you are looking for something fragrant in the garden or greenhouse during the warmer months. Deep green glossy foliage on a twining vine-like or scrambling shrub to 8' or can easily be pruned to keep it smaller and fuller. For more on how to grow Sambac Jasmine see the full plant description by clicking the picture or "more info". Item # 445.

White lightly fragrant frilly witch hazel-like flowers nearly cover the backdrop of medium-sized oval dark olive green foliage in spring. Green Giant Loropetalum is a vigorous large evergreen shrub with a naturally rounded upright form and is well suited for use as a screen, hedge, or specimen plant. A relatively unknown heirloom shrub until the purple foliaged forms came on the scene in the 1980's and 1990's, Chinese Witch Hazel has few pests or disease problems when grown in a well-drained, acidic to neutral soil with average fertility in a full sun to partly shaded site. Item# 11623

A true conversation piece! Rows of variable deep to light green sepals, often accented with red, act like the flower petals creating the 1-1/2 to 2" wide green rose-like flowers with a light spicy or peppery fragrance. The long-lasting flowers are are produced throughout the growing season. The Green Rose, Rosa chinensis 'Viridiflora', is a smaller growing, disease resistant, heirloom garden rose to about 3-4' high and equally wide. The unusual flowers make interesting and long-lasting additions to floral arrangements. Easy and reliable. Provide a full to mostly sunny site in an average moist, average to well-drained, fertile soil for optimum vigor and flowering. Item# 13539

A repeat flowering Banana Magnolia with a more intense sweet banana fragrance! Hagiwara Everblooming Banana Magnolia produces sweetly fragrant cupped soft yellow flowers for much of summer on this large evergreen shrub to small tree. Easy to grow and enjoy in most well-drained acidic soils. Caterpillar host: Eastern Tiger Swallowtail and Western Tiger Swallowtail. Item# 11481

Dense clusters of dainty white to lavender tubular flowers top the hairy blue-green to green fragrant foliage in summer. The small nectar rich flowers of Hairy Mountain Mint attract a wide variety of pollinators, and are especially important to native bees. This is a rhizomatous native perennial that will readily spread especially in moist soils. Hairy Mountainmint, Pycnanthemum verticillatum var. pilosum, is native to the northcentral US, mainly Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Arkansas, eastern Tennessee, eastern Kentucky and as far south as northern Mississippi. It is typically found in moist, calcareous soils but can tolerate drier sites where it is less likely to spread aggressively. Item# 11763

Spikes of lightly fragrant peachy-pink butterfly-shaped flowers are produced in summer atop sturdy stems adorned in rich green tropical looking foliage in mid to late summer. The flowers attract butterflies, hummingbirds, and likely pollinating Sphinx Moths as well. The Hardy Peach Ginger, Hedychium coccineum var. angustifolium 'Peach', is a moderately vigorous, rhizomatous, naturally evergreen tropical that acts like a root hardy die-back perennial in areas where freezes occur. It multiplies readily but not invasively. Makes a good cut flower and is resistant to browsing by deer and rabbits. The Hedychium Gingers typically need the equivalent of about 4-6 hours of cool sunlight in a moist to average moist, rich fertile soil with average or better drainage for optimum vigor and flowering. An organic mulch with all of its many benefits is highly recommended especially for new plantings and in zones 7-8. Item# 10032

This heirloom produces fragrant, medium to large, semi-double to loose peony form, rosy-pink to salmon-pink flowers edged in a broad white band and are randomly streaked with deep red. The mid to late season flowers, January to April, may be centered by a large boss of gold stamens atop white filaments and attract bees and other pollinators. Herme Camellia, known by a variety of additional names depending on which continent you are on, is an old but still highly prized Japonica type with a vigorous, densely branching, initially upright habit that rounds out with maturity. Provide Camellias with a fertile soil rich in organic matter, with average moisture, and an organic mulch. Images courtesy of Cam Too Camellia Nursery, all rights reserved. Item# 13227

Wonderfully fragrant, sometimes compared to Jasmine, Sweet Peas, and Rose, medium to large, pale to medium pink, peony form flowers are born in mid to late season (typically March-April). High Fragrance is a vigorous growing Camellia with a strongly upright to open habit that lends itself to tree forms. Flowers may not produce fragrance until the second day after opening. While the High Fragrance Camellia is considered to be hardy to zone 7, we find that the flower buds are cold sensitive and can be frozen at 10-15^oF making this cultivar better suited to zones 8B and warmer or grow it as a container plant where not hardy. Item# 10662

Semi-conical clusters of golden yellow, fragrant flowers are produced from spring, through summer, and continuing into fall attracting a host of pollinators including bees, butterflies, flower flies, and likely the occasional hummingbird. Honeycomb Butterfly Bush, Buddleja x weyeriana 'Honeycomb', is a vigorous growing, medium to large, deciduous shrub growing to 5-9' high and about half as wide and is adorned with large deep green to grayish green foliage. This is one of the earlier yellow hybrid selections and may still be the best and most reliable of the yellows available on the market today. Honeycomb Buddleja was one of the top performers in UGA trials conducted by Dr. Michael Dirr in the 1990's. Item# 968

The deep purple 3-4", richly fragrant, exotic looking flowers are produced throughout the growing season on this vigorous Passionvine with medium to deep green, large, 3-lobed, palmate, foliage. Incense is considered to be one of the more reliably perennial passionvines for zone 8 gardens, along with the native Maypop Passionvine, Passiflora incarnata, one of its parents. In our experience Incense rarely produces any viable fruit. Like the native Maypop Passionflower, Incense readily spreads by long rhizomes, and with the individual perennial vines growing to about 20' high or long. Caterpillar host: Gulf Fritillary, Julia Butterfly, Variegated Fritillary, and Zebra Longwing. Item# 464.

Large clusters of fragrant, hot pink to cherry red trumpets are held in large clusters atop sturdy stalks growing to 4' high in summer and attracting a variety of pollinators including bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Infusion Crinum Lily, a vigorous hybrid with Ellen Bosanquet in its parentage, is a long-lived tough and easy, naturally evergreen, tropical to subtropical but winter hardy, bulbous perennial that sports large strappy medium green foliage that can sprawl to 5-6' across during the growing seaon. The bulbs readily offset creating a dense mass of foliage and flowering stems and will benefit from division from time to time. These hardy bulbs are quite adaptable to soil types but will prefer a full to mostly site for optimum vigor and flowering. Outside of zones 7-10 they can be enjoyed as easy and low maintenance container plants that can be overwintered indoors in a sunny window. Crinums are deer and rabbit resistant. Item# 13394

Clusters of up to a dozen 1" wide, strongly to lightly sweetly fragrant, rich yellow flowers are produced beginning in spring and may continue throughout summer on well-grown, established plants. The Italian Jasmine, newly classified as Chrysojasminum humile 'Revolutum', is an evergreen to semi-evergreen, large, scandent or vine-like, arching to fountaining shrub commonly growing to 5-7' high and wide. The dark green foliage nicely complement the sunny yellow flowers. The long limber canes of this true Jasmine make it an easy choice for an espalier if desired or they can be headed back to keep the plants smaller and bushier. It is fairly tolerant of growing conditions from sun to part shade but is likely to flower best where it receives ample sunlight. Provide an average moist, fertile, well-drained soil for optimum vigor and flowering. The flowers attract mainly butterflies and pollinating hummingbird and sphinx moths but potentially bees and hummingbirds as well. Its easy and reliable nature has garnered it the RHS Award of Garden Merit. Item# 470

Jacob Cline is one of the more reliable selections of Scarlet Bee Balm producing large clusters of brilliant red tubular flowers atop sturdy 3-4' stems in summer. Considered to be one of the most vigorous and disease resistant cultivars available. A clump-forming, slowly spreading winter deciduous perennial that enjoys moist but well-drained soils and ample sunlight. A hummingbird magnet! Item# 10541.

Grown mainly for its neat form and large leathery deep green foliage, the new growth of the Japanese Blueberry Tree emerges in bronze and reddish tones, ultimately maturing to deep dark green, and as the older foliage prepares to drop it takes on deep bright red tones. In late spring to early summer, large racemes of white to light pink, fragrant, frilly flowers that are commonly hidden among the foliage attract bees and butterflies. The flowers are followed by olive like fruits that ripen to deep blue, purple, or black and give the plant its common name. The Japanese Blueberry Tree, Elaeocarpus decipiens, is a naturally evergreen small to medium-sized tree with a slow to moderate rate of growth and can be used as a screen, hedge, or specimen providing a holly or Magnolia look in areas with mild winters. These can be shaped into very nice specimens if desired and are typically maintained with the foliage going all the way to the ground. Provide a full to mostly sunny site, in a neutral to mildly acidic, fertile, quality soil with average moisture and good drainage. Item# 13419

The top performer in both attracting pollinators and disease resistance in the Mt. Cuba Center's trials! Huge conical clusters of smaller than typical fragrant lavender-pink flowers are produced over an extended period beginning in midsummer and lasting into fall attracting a host of pollinators including butterflies, hummingbirds, and larger bees. Jeana Garden Phlox is an exceptionally vigorous and free flowering selection of our native Phlox paniculata whose stems can touch on 5' by the end of the growing season. This is a hardy, clump forming, deciduous perennial preferring a full to mostly sunny site in an acidic, average moist, fertile soil with average or better drainage. Images courtesy of North Creek Nurseries, Inc., all rights reserved. Item# 13194