Create A Scented Patio

Spring is here, which means summer is right around the corner. With warm spring days and nights, it's the perfect time to sit out on your patio and enjoy the fresh air, before the heat of summer kicks into gear. Why not add a little aroma to the ambiance through scented plants?

From the earthy, year-round fragrant foliage of herbs to seasonal fragrant blooms like plumeria, a touch of the right scents can make your patio that much more enjoyable.

While some fragrant plants are best grown next to the patio, others can be planted in containers, built-in garden beds or displayed in hanging baskets.

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7 Fabulous Scented Plants to Liven Up Your Patio Garden

1. Dianthus

These gorgeous flowers are often called "pinks" due to their most common color and because they can easily be cut with pinking shears. They grow wonderfully in containers and have a spicy and vanilla-like scent. Dianthus is available in a wide range of colors from peach to pink, to magenta and purple... there's a shade perfect for your scented patio.

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2. Arabian Jasmine

Lush foliage on vine-like growth with intensely fragrant, little white flowers that open at night and close in the morning, fading to pink as they age. Widely grown in the tropics as an ornamental plant and for its strongly scented flowers. Use in containers near patios and entryways where the fragrance can be enjoyed. A frost-tender evergreen. Prefers partial to full sun.

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3. Gardenia

Loved for a profusion of sweetly fragrant, white blooms that serve as excellent cut flowers. A beautiful specimen with upright branches that are covered with glossy evergreen foliage. A terrific container plant, perfect for entryway plantings or in patio tubs, where the fragrance can be enjoyed. Prefers patial sun.

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4. Salvia elegans

A fragrant, perennial herb for garden or patio with showy scarlet-red flowers in late summer. The blooms contrast nicely against bright, pineapple-scented yellow green foliage. Crushed leaves have the aroma and taste of pineapple, used to make tea, potpourri, jams and jellies.

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5. Fragrant Olive - Osmanthus fragrans

A large evergreen shrub or small tree with a broad upright form that is densely branched and covered with finely toothed, dark green foliage. Tiny flower clusters have a delightful apricot-like fragrance. Works well for formal or informal hedges and screens, or as a landscape specimen. Plant near walks and entrances to enjoy the fragrance.

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6. Heliotrope

Massive rounded clusters of deep purple, intensely fragrant flowers backed handsomely by foliage with a purple cast. A shrubby evergreen perennial. Excellent as an annual in all climates.

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7. Scented Geraniums

This lemon scented geranium has three times higher oil content than the ordinary 'mosquito-shoo' geranium. An added bonus to the lovely flowers, the foliage really does repel mosquitoes. Perfect for balcony boxes, hanging baskets and decorative containers.

 

What is your favorite plant to smell? Have you considered adorning your patio with their sweet scents?

Visit your local SummerWinds Nursery to pick up a few wonderful blooms and bushes that will make the air around your home smell great! You can even grow a few delightful scented plants together that will complement each other.

Source: Monrovia.com

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About SummerWinds Nursery

A leading high-end retailer of garden and nursery products. Headquartered in Boise, Idaho, SummerWinds Garden Centers, Inc. operates retail nurseries in the greater Phoenix, Arizona area, and in Silicon Valley, California, making it one of the largest independent retail nursery companies in the nation. SummerWinds appeals to both the serious and casual gardeners, with a broad selection of premium gardening products and a friendly and knowledgeable staff.