Fragrant Spring Moments

Every spring I tell myself I want more fragrance in my garden. I want more of those moments when the perfume of hyacinths and daffodils floats on the air and surrounds me. No matter what I’m doing, I stop to breathe it all in and enjoy the beauty. Do you want more of those moments too? Planting a few fragrant spring flowering bulbs into your garden now will be rewarding next spring.

Hyacinths are among the most popular fragrant blooms for spring.

They are easy to grow and look great when planted in groups of 3 or more bulbs. Colourful Companion Seabreeze is a refreshing trio of hyacinths in clear white, soft sky blue and violet blue shades. A container placed by the front door welcomes spring and offers sweetly fragrant greetings for all your comings and goings.

Hyacinths are outstanding for smelling gorgeous, but discovering fragrance in tulips is delightful because we don’t anticipate it. Most tulips are unscented. Double early tulips, gently cupped and overflowing with extra petals, can have a pleasing honey scent. Colourful Companion Happy Together is a superb combination of two sister varieties just meant to be. Tulip Foxtrot displays in pink shades, from blush white to deep rose. No two flowers are alike except for their fragrance. Foxy Foxtrot, its sister, is warm and glowing in shades of yellow and apricot, with hints of rose orange. A few cut flowers make a lovely centerpiece.

Treasured since ancient times for their fragrance, Narcissus are still used in the perfume industry today.  Poetaz Narcissus Bridal Crown gives off a rich jasmine-like fragrance from multiple stems topped with clusters of double creamy white and saffron yellow flowers. The lovely blooms in mid to late spring are long lasting and held upright on strong compact stems. Narcissus are also deer resistant and naturalizing which makes them ideal for planting in mixed borders as well as containers.

Muscari, also known as grape hyacinths, may be small in stature, but they are fragrant dynamos. Joyce Spirit is densely packed with deep silvery blue bell shaped flowers with distinctive white edging. They look like upside down clusters of petite grapes, and they carry a fun and fabulous ‘grape soda’ fragrance. Who doesn’t like the smell of grape soda?  Muscari is excellent for planting with other spring flowering bulbs, as well as shrubs and trees. Easy to naturalize, this bulb creates carpets of blue in the garden.

A unique yellow flowering variety of grape hyacinths, Golden Fragrance has an intriguing soft and sweet cinnamon scent. Tubular florets first appear greenish dusky purple and turn to yellow as the flower fully opens. Around each narrow opening, the florets are rimmed in deep purple. This variety naturalizes much more slowly, but it is a great addition to woodlands and rock gardens where the changing colours beautifully contrast with the environment. It’s very popular in containers too!

Every spring I tell myself I want more fragrance in my garden. I want more of those moments when the perfume of hyacinths and daffodils floats on the air and surrounds me. No matter what I’m doing, I stop to breathe it all in and enjoy the beauty. Do you want more of those moments too? Planting a few fragrant spring flowering bulbs into your garden now will be rewarding next spring.

Hyacinths are among the most popular fragrant blooms for spring. They are easy to grow and look great when planted in groups of 3 or more bulbs. Colourful Companion Seabreeze is a refreshing trio of hyacinths in clear white, soft sky blue and violet blue shades. A container placed by the front door welcomes spring and offers sweetly fragrant greetings for all your comings and goings.

Hyacinths are outstanding for smelling gorgeous, but discovering fragrance in tulips is delightful because we don’t anticipate it. Most tulips are unscented. Double early tulips, gently cupped and overflowing with extra petals, can have a pleasing honey scent. Colourful Companion Happy Together is a superb combination of two sister varieties just meant to be. Tulip Foxtrot displays in pink shades, from blush white to deep rose. No two flowers are alike except for their fragrance. Foxy Foxtrot, its sister, is warm and glowing in shades of yellow and apricot, with hints of rose orange. A few cut flowers make a lovely centerpiece.

Treasured since ancient times for their fragrance, Narcissus are still used in the perfume industry today.  Poetaz Narcissus Bridal Crown gives off a rich jasmine-like fragrance from multiple stems topped with clusters of double creamy white and saffron yellow flowers. The lovely blooms in mid to late spring are long lasting and held upright on strong compact stems. Narcissus are also deer resistant and naturalizing which makes them ideal for planting in mixed borders as well as containers.

Muscari, also known as grape hyacinths, may be small in stature, but they are fragrant dynamos. Joyce Spirit is densely packed with deep silvery blue bell shaped flowers with distinctive white edging. They look like upside down clusters of petite grapes, and they carry a fun and fabulous ‘grape soda’ fragrance. Who doesn’t like the smell of grape soda?  Muscari is excellent for planting with other spring flowering bulbs, as well as shrubs and trees. Easy to naturalize, this bulb creates carpets of blue in the garden.

A unique yellow flowering variety of grape hyacinths, Golden Fragrance has an intriguing soft and sweet cinnamon scent. Tubular florets first appear greenish dusky purple and turn to yellow as the flower fully opens. Around each narrow opening, the florets are rimmed in deep purple. This variety naturalizes much more slowly, but it is a great addition to woodlands and rock gardens where the changing colours beautifully contrast with the environment. It’s very popular in containers too!