Nice to see ya here.. That smell thing is a bit tough.. seems when we compare scent it smells different to everyone.. IMHO the singles have a stronger scent altho New Orleans Lady is pretty strong. A Beautiful Dbl Apricot/Orange.. Def.. worthy of growing does well in the heat and no bug problems.. Kylie

Hey, Phyl! I'm in z5, too, tho east of you a ways (southern Saratoga county). I've been growing A. rupestris for 3 years with no winter-kill. I think the trick is to have excellent, and I mean EXCELLENT, drainage. When we bought our house, we discovered the nimrod owners had created a "flower bed" by putting down, I'm not kidding, 6 inches of crushed rock with about a foot of admittedly great topsoil on top. Have you ever tried to dig through 6 solid inches of compacted crushed rock to plant roses??? Oh, my aching shovel! Giving credit where it's due, tho, everything in that bed flourishes. I plant all my xeric plants there and haven't lost one yet. If you really want a good choice of agastaches, you might want to try High Country Gardens. They also have nice penstemons, tho I don't know how they hold up as cut flowers. Here is a link that might be useful: High Country Gardens

Butterfly, thanks for the detailed info. If it can be maintained under 3-4", I can live with it. I am going to check that nursary again in the fall when the plants are on sale. Freki, Marquest, excellent choices. Plant some annual in between might be another solution. Frankly, among all the fragant blooming plants, annuals, preannual, shrubs, trees, the longest lasting fragrant and wafted plant I have is the old fashion petunia. It blooms none stop ever since it started . Boy, I love its sweet scent!. In spring time, I have tons of fragrant flowers blooming. lilac, mock orange, sweet william, flowers from various bulbs, iris, etc. which last till sometime in June. after that,there aren't many fragrant in the air. I try to fill the gaps. Butterfly bush zoned to grow in 5 but in reality does not grow/flower reliablbly here. I planted summersweet this spring. it started to bloom in mid-later July. It is done blooming now. Its scent is not as strong and waft as I thought it would be. It may due to its first year, the root system has not fully established yet. Do you have summersweet grow in your yard? What is your comment on this plant? I did bought a clematis few weeks ago, Sweet Autum. It is supposed to bloom around late Aug to Sept. But it is stilll in container, has not been planted in the ground yet. Does anyone know if there is a fragant trumpet vine that grow in zone 5? My neighbot has one with very showy salmon/orange flowers,beautiful leaves, but has no scent. I thought knock-out roses are not scented? How strong is the scent? If you get one, please post some commets on its scent.

my point was if that article scared you off of using your favorite perfume in your hair, I think it's probably fine to keep doing it. online beauty articles are trying to sell products, and they change their opinions and "scientific findings" constantly to get you to buy new stuff. they don't really use peer-reviewed science for this. but if you really like the new product and it makes you happy, get it!