Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
Fragrance in Today’s Garden
It’s been a cold and rainy spring in the Pacific Northwest, but herbs and flowers are blooming in spite of it.
I told you recently that my lilac bush – a gift from my mother-in-law – is blooming for the first time after many years in my garden.
There are only two clusters of blossoms on the bush so far and they are opening slowly. But a single tiny flower is full of fragrance!
My azalea is also blooming. It’s a small plant and looks rather beaten down by the wind and rain – but the scent is strong, as sweet as honeysuckle.
Apart from these are many herbs that fill up my garden beds; their scents are released by gently rubbing the leaves.
I love lavender and have many varieties, this one just beginning to bud.
Sage always has a place in my garden and provides wonderful contrasts of color and texture as well as a unique musky smell. Also good for cooking though I usually don’t.
As every gardener knows, mint lives wherever it chooses. The chocolate mint below rises above chives and oregano in one of my garden beds.
Lady’s Mantle is nearby but its claim to fame is not its fragrance nor medicinal properties – at least not in my garden – but the wonderful way it holds the rain.
Finally, I mentioned in an earlier post that the real star of the May garden is clematis, and my Montana is happily climbing as high as it can midst the evergreen trees and shrubs.
I was about to say that despite its beauty it has no fragrance but thought I should doublecheck just to be sure.
I’m glad I did! It has a lovely fragrance though mild, that I only detected by sniffing the flowers close up!
Sharing with Sunday Stills.
~ Susanne
Cats and Trails and Garden Tales 
Beautiful colors to fight off the rain!
Thanks, John! So true! Flowers are beautiful and fragrant despite the miserable spring!
I am happy to see your Clematis photos. A future post will be about my blooms having different numbers of petals. Does yours do this?
Hmmm. Not that I’ve noticed!
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Wow, Susanne! What a glorious garden and I’m sure the aromas are amazing! The rainy spring has been good for Washington. My lilacs are growing fine after their transplant to a large pot and I can’t wait to see if they bloom this year. Your azalea is gorgeous–we had them in Sacramento, but they bloomed much earlier. I’m jealous of that herb garden. One of these days I will get things going here.
Thank you so much! It’s been a particularly cold and rainy spring even for the Northwest! But as soon as the summer heat arrives, all will be forgiven! I’m happy to hear your lilacs are adapting well to their new home. I’ll be jealous if you get blooms this year as it took me years to get any on the one from my mother-in-law; I think I moved it around too many times and it held a grudge. 😉 But I’m happy to report the other one I planted last year is blooming too, so it’s all good. 🙂 🙂
Beautiful garden! Your photos do a good job of showing it off!
Thank you so much!
Very nice. There’s nothing like rubbing herb leaves for the fragrance!
Thanks, Graham. I love growing herbs for that reason!
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When I still lived in London, I had a climbing honeysuckle in the small back garden. I used to love the scent from it on warm summer evenings.
Best wishes, Pete.
Thanks, Pete. I love honeysuckle! I have one too but it’s not blooming yet.
This is my first year without a garden. Thank you for sharing yours!!
You’re so welcome! Thanks for dropping by! 😍
So pretty! My plants are starting to dry up, due to the lack of rain here and the fact that I tend to forget which days are watering days for my side of the street. 😬I’m pretty sure one of them is Wednesday🤔
I’d be more than happy to send some of our rain to you if only I could figure out how! 🌧🌨
Thanks! It’s the thought that counts!😂
Beautiful! Both the photos and their subjects! If you like unusual plants that have scented leaves consider pelargoniums which technically are geraniums but a bunch of varieties with scented leaves (some clove, some citrus, some even chocolate!) but with little or no bloom features. They also make nice indoor green plants. To my way of thinking though the best spring fragrance before the roses come on is cottonwood trees leafing out in rainy spring weather! BTW that gifted lilac may be an heirloom variety. The double blossoms of different shades are clues. Next year consider, perhaps, a trip to the Hulda Klager Lilac Garden in Woodland, Washington. Talk about photo ops….
Thanks for dropping by and also for the tip on the pelargoniums. I’ve had scented geraniums in the past which I assume are similar. I’ve been to the Lilac Garden in Woodland but it’s been a few years, so I’ll keep that in mind for next year. 🙂
Beautiful pictures! I love when everything starts popping up above ground!
Thank you! I love springtime in the garden, though this year it still feels like winter!
Yep, been very cool and windy, but hopefully will warm up next week.
I love the smell of my lilacs! I like to just stand in the middle of my garden and inhale …
Wonderful! I don’t have enough in bloom yet for the fragrance to waft about the garden, so I have to get up close and personal to enjoy it!