Saturday, April 24, 2010

The Fragrant Spring Garden

Fragrance has never been a priority for me in choosing plants for the garden. The appeal for most plants that I choose is purely visual. I guess that shouldn't be surprising given my history of obsessions with the visual world.

Nevertheless I couldn't help but notice the fragrances wafting in the garden yesterday as I worked~ and all from just two Spring beauties, Dianthus & Phlox.

Bath's Pink is extremely fragrant. I have a few different types and varieties of dianthus growing in the garden since they love my conditions here but none are even close to being that fragrant.





This is the first bloom that I have seen from this self seeded plant. I don't detect much fragrance from this one or it's likely parent.



The fragrance is not as strong from Phlox pilosa var ozarkana but the size of the planting makes it quite noticable. This is a vigorous spreader for me. I have to keep it from overtaking its neighbors despite the assistance I get from the rabbits in reigning it in.





Of course this specimen and its ilk were a big focus of my time spent in the garden yesterday.



I finally got a couple of decent shots of the Geranium maculatum. The plant is only a couple of years old and has to lean out to the sun from a jungle of Buddleia lindleyana suckers and a Ruby Glow barberry. I had to cram it in there for a little shade since it's scarce here.





The iris show has begun~ Japanese Roof Iris



A very prolific passalong with small blooms for its tall stems. I'm not fond of its proportions but it works okay around the mammoth Miscanthus 'Cabaret'.



I'm still waiting for this favorite to open~ Rare Treat( indeed! lol. It hasn't multiplied nearly fast enough for me)



It's a cloudy and windy Sunday here. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims of yesterdays tornados in the Gulf states.

6 comments:

  1. Beautiful pictures. We are cloudy and windy today also. I couldn't believe the news this morning. My prayers go out to the victims of the storms. Carla

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  2. I let Phlox pilosa run wild in my garden...It's the practically perfect pink phlox~But, I can see how others might not want it to be so footloose...I love the old fashioned passalong iris that blooms sweetly in early spring and it does look nice with miscanthus, too. gail

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  3. I guess I have the 'non-fragrant' variety of dianthus, as I've never caught a wiff of scent from mine. My sense of smell isn't all that great after having radiation...but don't think I ever knew they had a fragrance to begin with! My phlox pilosa stays in clumps for me and never strays, although the clumps grow larger each year. My 'tall' phlox (which will bloom in summer--) does tend to spread, and puts out little seedlings everywhere, but I really love it. I just moved it to my fenced-in back yard as the deer chomp on it all summer & I thought I'd remove it from the front & see what happens. Your iris (Rare Treat)is lovely--the color contrast must be really nice when it's opened up.

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  4. Shari where did you get that Phlox pilosa from? I have one that's exactly like that in my garden (which I may have gotten from you) that looks different from the one I got from Gail! It's already formed a pretty big patch.

    Rare Treat doesn't multiply quickly for me either. Your I. pallida looks wonderful. Either mine isn't going to bloom this year or it's going to bloom late.

    Those fragrant Dianthus are wonderful aren't they? I have one of those strange single fringy ones that I got from Tammy that is fragrant too, but it doesn't have the cotton candy-and-clove fragrance -- instead it smells like an American Snowbell!

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  5. Your Phlox did come from me- I sent some home with you the day you visited. I picked it up at the Swap but I'm pretty sure that Karen brought it. I still haven't checked that lavender iris to see if it has a fragrance(I'd better do it soon,lol)

    Rare Treat has started and I have one Siberian open today:)

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  6. Shari I'm glad you shared that phlox because it's a wonderful flower!

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