A nose for gardening
In addition to looking good, your garden could also smell the part
In 1865 Anthony Trollope wrote ‘If you wish to get the sweetest fragrance from the herb at your feet, tread it and bruise it.’ He was right, of course, as some of the loveliest perfumes come from touching or indeed treading on plants in order to enjoy their fragrance. Prince Charles, renown for his love of gardens and plants whom I have met on several occasions on gardening matters and whose garden I have visited, planted up a wonderful ‘Thyme Walk’ in the grounds of Highgrove his country property, which just made you to want to walk on it and release all the pungent smells.
Here in Cyprus we are lucky to have so many aromatic plants with lavender and thyme, sages and rosemary and many, many others suited to the island. Perhaps it is because of the barrenness of the landscape that nature compensates by giving us such fragrant plants.
Have you smelt the perfume of Loquat (Mespila) flowers on a cold November day – it smells of a freshly bathed and powdered baby. Or have you taken in the heady perfume of a Bay Laurel in springtime? Have you walked among the fluttering petals of citrus fruits in April with bees gorging themselves on the pollen adding to the hum of a busy garden?
Do you grow roses for their perfumes or for their flower structure? Perfumes would win hands down every time I think. Push your nose into a damascena rose and take in the dusky perfume of ancient times – not many modern roses have a perfume, as they are now bred to be without thorns and smell.
So how are you going to incorporate all these wonderful perfumes into your garden? If you have enough space you could create a lavender par terre. This is a formal design contained in a box shape. Par terres are normally framed in Buxus (boxwood) or Lonicera because they are small leaved and very slow growing. In among the design are planting squares or other shapes in which you can have statues or big planters filled with seasonal flowers. Par terres are usually found in large formal gardens but there is no reason why you cannot create one in a smaller space and the outer plantings could be of lavender so that when you step over the edge to weed or water you will brush against the plants releasing their wonderful perfume. If you don’t have the space for that then maybe you could plant a lavender hedge using the local lavender, Mirofora – (Lavendula stoechas) and you know that it is going to grow well.
If you have some space amongst your trees then plant a Loquat or Mespila as it is known locally. This is a very tidily shaped tree flowering in November and December. The insignificant looking flowers have the most wonderful perfume and before long the whole tree will be buzzing with the local bees all trying to get their share of it. You will be rewarded later by rather toothsome fruits in April or May, depending where you live.
After the loquat blossom you can expect the scents of hyacinths and freesias both of which are highly perfumed and like the Jasmine’s that come along later on, do plant them near to an open window so that their perfume wafts into your living room. Pot plants, like the Stephanotis, which can be grown on a veranda or inside also give off wonderful perfumes.
If after you have planted the loquat you still have some space left in your ‘tree area’ then you must have an orange and/or lemon so that not only will you have fruit for the table but be able to walk beside them and savour the highly scented blossoms. Lastly, in a sunny border do put in some Iris germanica. The species and some of the hybrids have such subtle scents that you need to bend your head a little to catch them. They are well worth it.
