Country Garden Favorites

The country garden relies on scent just as much as it does on color and texture. Gertrude Jekyll popularized this garden design, praising the care free style of cottage perennials.

Old country favorites don't always enjoy the extraordinary blooms worthy of flower shows, but they each have particular qualities that define them and with which they are identified: the old fashioned scent of violets, the cascading display of blooms of old roses, the spicy scent of thyme and rosemary, the clean smell and distinctive color of lavender spikes, the pungent aroma and the bright yellows and oranges of marigolds.

Some flowers like lily-of-the-valley enjoy the gift of fragrance, others, like the hollyhocks have showy flowers, but the real country favorites usually have both. Let's take the example of garden phlox, an unpretentious, long blooming plant that displays masses of colorful flowers with a delightful strong fragrance all summer long. Others, like lilacs and peonies, only bloom for a few weeks a year, but what a treat that is!

If you plant for fragrance, don't forget that fruit aromas can be as enticing as flower scents. Old country gardens always included small fruit trees or grapevine along with a wealth of aromatic herbs and sweet smelling climbers.

If you want a country garden of enchanting fragrance make sure to include lily of the valley, lilac, garden phlox, stock, nicotiana, honeysuckle, lilies, wallflowers, lavender, mint, peonies, pinks, rosemary, primroses and violets.