Gotta have those butterfly gingers for fragrance. There is nothing better than walking around your garden and having an errant breeze waft the heavenly fragrance of these flowers your way.

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I wish I could capture the fragrance and post it on the forum.

X

I was going to vote for it as well. :) Other than that one......Magnolia grandiflora. Wonderful

Pam

The Spice Bush (Calycanthus) is my favorite. There was one growing in my grandparents backyard when I was young and when mine is blooming it brings back very fond memories.

A vanilla-cream scented TB Iris which I think is 'Classic Look'(have had it for 15 years but lost the tag right off) white with purple stitching on the edges. One fills the room with a wonderful scent.

And, of course, Gardenia. I will always associate its fragrance with warm summer nights in California at my m-i-l's house - an 8' tall bush planted right outside the bedroom window. She once counted 322 flowers in bloom on it. Here I just get a smattering, but OH! the scent of just one is heavenly and always makes me smile.

Rosemary is another favorite of mine - I break off a sprig to take with me in the car every trip, or tuck it in my hair as I pull weeds so I won't say cross words.

Nancy the nancedar

Butterfly ginger also tops my list as best smelling...They're just luscious. I also have smelly old garden roses and angel trumpets. Rosemary's planted right beside my door, so that I can rub and sniff coming and going. Gardenias are wonderful, too...mine died and I have to get another.

AT

I love the smell of Jasmine (sambac/grand duke), rosemary and English lavendar.Of course, gardenia. Haven't smelled a Butterfly Ginger (:-(, don't have one. If I go out to buy one, my DH is going to be not too happy. So would wait for it to come in an exchange offer.
Kerai

Wintersweet (Chiomanthus, although I think the genus name has changed, praecox) is wonderful. Blooms in Dec.- Jan. Prunus mume, which usually blooms in Feb., is fragrant too. I also love Hamamelis vernalis "Christmas Cheer" which blooms in Dec-Jan. And I can't leave out winter honeysuckle! Homely bush, wonderful sweet-lemony fragrant flowers, blooms in Jan-Feb.

I think the best plant for fragrance, for consistency, strength and sweetness, is Japanese honeysuckle. Very close behind is rose, gardenia, butterfly ginger, osmanthus, Florida azalea. I've got some wonderfully fragrant iris too, the flower form AND fragrance together is unbeatable.

Osmanthus that is blooming now - though I have to stick my nose into it to really smell it.

Daphne odora a bit later in the winter - smells like Magnolia's to me and on a warm winter day they remind me of Hawaii.

My brugs bloomed late this year but in the evening it was quite powerful.

My two favorite leaf smelly plants this year were/are Lemon Verbena and Orange Mint. I could brush by them every hour and be happy.

In the past I've had Four O'Clocks right outside a bedroom window and I enjoyed their scent.

Fortune's Osmanthus is almost overpowering. There's a bunch of San Jose planted on campus pruned so that they form an archway that people can walk through -- the scent is very sweet and very strong.

hmmm- so many favorites already mentioned. gardenias, magnolias, daphne, 4 oclocks, osmanthus, lemon verbena, brugs, iris, lavendar & rosemary.. i'd like to add nicotiana, lemon blossoms, old roses and lilacs, and one of my absolute favorites- lily of the valley. perhaps because my nose is strange and goes off and on again(didn't smell much til my pregnancies & after), i really really appreciate fragrance.

For myself I will say I will always try to be in a place that I can grow sweet annie. It feels like such a luxury to run my fingers through her soft foliage and be treated to such a scent.

In Pgh it was lovely to walk out on a frozen December evening and still have that same feeling of a warm summer day from running your fingers through the spent stalks of her. Adele

Couple of easy patio plants in the summer, stored under the house in the winter: Aglaia odorata and Cestrum nocturnum.

so many beautiful scents it is hard to pin them down to just a couple but I would have to go with honeysuckle, confederate jasmine, moonflower bush (Datura) and for herbs - nothing beats rosemary for me. I grow that just to run my hands through. Cut back a huge bush today and tomorrow I will be making a rosemary wreath mixed with other evergreens

Curry plant, Provence lavender, and Rosemary for the foliage or the blooms; Korean Spice viburnum in flower. Catmint is lovely in bloom, but don't make the mistake of putting the cuttings into water, use in dried arrangements only.

I used to have a wonderfully fragrant four o'clock too, but lost it in a move. The flowers were only an off-white single trumpet but the fragrance was incredible. Can't find it anywhere, and when I planted seeds from the store I got lots of pinks, oranges, and reds but not a bit of fragrance.

Me either, I haven't had a fragrant four o'clock yet! :(

As I grew up in the north, the smell of lilacs is one of my favorites, but as they do not grow well here in the south, with the exception of some of the Korean varieties which smell nice but not like the old fashioned types, I have a fondness for white profusion butterfly bush which does smell alot like lilacs.

Peter Mayle! I bought this rose earlier this year at Roses Unlimited and besides having blooms that are 4" to 5" across it smells HEAVENLY!!! Clean plant too!

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Early last spring I had Osmanthus fragrans and Syringa oblata blooming side by side at the same time. I bet there are only a few places on earth where that happens, and it's one reason I love my odd little zone 8. The scent of heaven for sure ...

Without a doubt, my best smelling plant this year has been my Clerodendrum bungei ( Rose Glorybower ). My 'August Beauty' gardenia smells nice, but you have to stand next to the shrub to smell the scent of the flowers. Same goes for my monarda and pineapple sage...have to be practically on top of them to detect their scent. The glorybower, however, is so heavily scented that it is possible to smell it from any point in my front yard. I've had people ask me where the scent was coming from, and they seem surprised when I tell them that a plant is responsible for that wonderful aroma. It was a magnet for bees this summer - they seemed to prefer it over any other flowering plant in my gardens.
Renee

Great, great, just what we need, another rose to drool over.... Thanks, Carol. :)

I think there's a Glorybower on the way out of Plant Delights. Does anyone grow them in zone 7?

I think the moonflower vine gets my vote. It is planted on a oblisk by the dining room window and you can smell it as soon s you get near. visitors have asked what it was they smelled and have to point it out. Also love the fact that it attracts the hummungbird moths, got some great pictures of that this year.

All you paying members who can't hear the rockin' ritz cracker don't know what you are missing!

That said, I have to cast a vote for rosa Zephirin Drouhn, confederate jasmine, Daphne, rubrum Asian lilies, and the nostalgically fragrant old fashioned iris.

peace, claire in sanford

for those who said they had unscented ones, try smelling 4 oclocks and nicotianas at night- neither has scent during the day. but at night- mmmmm.

Alicia ~ from what I've read online, Clerodendrum bungei (rose glorybower, mexicali rose, et al.) is hardy to zone 7 (or -10 degrees). It will freeze to the ground but will come back from the roots. And you'll have loads of babies..this thing sends out runners like crazy, but shouldn't get out of hand in your zone. I believe it's considered invasive in warmer zones, like Florida. If you get one, be prepared to have your friends and neighbors asking you for cuttings or for some of the runner babies...the scent is intoxicating.

Renee

Alicia, I have a smaller plant that I got last year from Evelyn Fine who lives down near Staley. I had heard of its rambling ways and planted it in a pot in the ground and it has still seemed to find ways to get out of the pot. So far it hasn't sent out but two or three stems that have popped up several feet from the pot. I can deal with its wandering tendencies due to its fragrant blooms.

Thanks Rivers and Nckvilledudes. Tammy my four o'clocks and moonvine weren't fragrant at 8 in the evening or at midnight, never. :( I think some just aren't fragrant. I did get a selection of tall nicotiana from Select Seeds this year called "Perfect Mix" that has a wonderful fragrance.

I am a sucker for Stargazer Lilies! Yankee candle even made a candle fragrance (now retired) with this scent and it was so nice to light on a cold winter's day and relive garden memories of the spring......

Tea Olive. It always transports me to slate sidewalks, walled gardens and wrought iron gates.

Thanks for posting everyone. My wish list is growing by the minute! Alicia7b, I'm especially interested in your winter blooming plants. Do you remember if you bought them locally or ordered them?? Does anyone know a good source for daphne odora, it's been on my wish list for a while.
A few of my plants that I just have to "touch and smell" when I walk past them are chocolate mint and pineapple sage. I had a lemon balm that smelled fantastic, but it just died all of a sudden. I'm not sure what happened to it.

Ginger

Sweet Olive Sweet Olive Sweet Olive!!!Blooming right now, is heavenly! (Is that the same as Tea Olive?...I know they're all over my homestate La)I also have orange blossoms blooming inside right now, they smell wonderful!
Carolyne

Carolyne, in checking this out, it seems that "tea olive" and "sweet olive" are the same as the botanical Osmanthus fragrans that so many mentioned at the start of this thread. Must be a real winner, but zone 8 is suggested..maybe we can cheat on that.

Ginger,
I grew my own wintersweet and Prunus mume (Japanese flowering apricot), the wintersweet from cuttings and the Prunus mume from seed. Camellia Forest in Chapel Hill sells flowering apricot. Woodlanders sells wintersweet, flowering apricot, and winter honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantissima). I got my winter honeysuckle from Niche Gardens in Chapel Hill but the honeysuckle can probably be purchased from many places. Plus it is a cinch to grow from cuttings. Gossler Farms Nursery and Forest Farm both sell Hamamelis vernalis "Christmas Cheer". Greer Gardens doesn't sell Christmas Cheer but sells a lot of other good selections of witch hazels. All of these nurseries do mail-order, plus you can visit Camellia Forest and Niche Gardens.

I have four sweet olives here in Cary, NC and they are doing fine. I had one in a pot in Texas that survived temps in the teens with no problem(right on the line of zone 7 and 8). They are beautiful plants, definately worth it and definately able to cheat!

No cheating necessary with Osmanthus, it's perfectly hardy in zone 7. JC Raulston has had several species for many years, and there are several giant Fortune's Osmanthys (fragrans x heterophyllus) on the NC State campus.

My tea olive is in a large pot and does fine in Greensboro also.

Tuberoses, tuberoses!

BTW -- anyone know where to get verbena that has a fragrance? My grandmother's verbena always smelled wonderful. Not just my memory either -- there's a chapter in a Faulkner novel titled "The Odor of Verbena," so I didn't make it up.

I had 'Mystic' verbena from Plant Delights once and it was fragrant. Lost it over winter. I have terrible luck with supposedly hardy verbenas.

lowe's & home depot have daphne odora in the winter most yrs, and at avery reasonable prices, for daphne. just remember, it's about as finicky as they come, and don't be surprised if you lose it unexpectedly at some point. for her fragrance, though, i will always try to find a spot.

i have winter honeysuckle & will be happy to try to root some for the spring swap. also, if you want some fragrant nicotiana, alicia, i'd be happy to bring some then. mostly pale pinks & whites- occasionally plummy colors. plus some seedlings of a yellow, fragrant 4'oclock. and ginger, if you need lemon blam, let me know- i have it EVERYWHERE. be happy to pot some up for the spring swap. just email me & let me know, please. i'm spotty at cking on here. tammy

Woodsworm - I can only get tuberose to grow one season and then have to buy more bulbs the next year since they disappear - any secrets?

Nancy the nancedar

I hate to be redundant but I have to vote for butterfly ginger. I grew it when I lived in Hawaii and was thrilled to find that it does so well here. I had my first bloom last week and quickly cut it and brought it inside to protect it from the frost. It makes a fabulous cut flower and one stalk will perfume the entire bottom floor. I feel like I'm back in the islands. Theresa

Someone asked if you can 'cheat' on Tea Olive. I live in S.C. midlands and I have three large tea olives in the ground and will plant more.

I have never lost one to the cold (yet).

Just recently visited my favorite tree/shrub nursery and came home with a fragrant tea olive. It is a lovely specimen and I hope I can do it justice.

While I was there I became so overcome with love for a flowering loquat that it was necessary to purchase it also. This was also a lovely specimen growing in a tree-like fashion. The flowers are heavily scented (if this were summer I would describe it as heady). It seems like such a luxury to have something that invokes warm summer nights just as winter is approaching.

I will offer up the loquat to be worthy of consideration as my best smelling flower/plant.

If you twist my arm I might tell what else I took home. Adele

I didn't see enough votes for ROSES so I'll throw in a couple:

Fragrant Memory - the pink rose everyone should have, mine currently has about 50 to 60 buds and blooms on it today! It's planted beside my front door so people can smell it when they come in.

Pink Peace - my favorite for color and fragrance, planted on the other side of my front door.

Apricot Nectar - the apricot colored rose everyone should have, beautiful!

Then honorable mentions:
Papa Meilland - not a prolific bloomer but makes up for it in beauty and fragrance

Camelot - the orange rose that everyone should have

Lagerfeld - light lavender and a to die for fragrance

Rio Samba - lovely

That's all I can think of at the moment...I currently have a vase on my desk with Fragrant Memory, Lagerfeld, and Apricot Nectar in it! And am overwhelmed by the fragrance.

That's right, countrygirl. What about Don Juan...he's still blooming and fragrant as ever.

Oh, mine passed on this spring. But you are correct, he is wonderful too.