Creating a garden which is a vivid and colourful wonderland can become a sensory haven too, with some specific planting choices. The scent is important too and can be key in providing a relaxing space to enjoy. Find out some of the best plants to grow in your garden for delicious summer fragrance.

Shrubs for summer garden fragrance

Great for adding established zones of fragrance, shrubs of all sizes are a wonderful way to boost scent in the garden. Their reliability to reflower each summer and bring their delicious scent back again each year makes them popular stalwarts of sensory gardens.

Particularly favoured amongst sensory gardens thanks to their ability to attract fluttering butterflies and bees, is Butterfly bush. A specific shrub variety which produces a wonderful scent from its conical blooms is Buddleija davidii ‘Summer Beauty’. Its fragrance is compared to honey and pepper, which is thought to be why they are so popular with these invaluable pollinators.

You can’t go wrong with roses in the garden when it comes to summer scent. Whether they are shrubs, climbers, or grown for groundcover, there are thousands of fragrant varieties to choose from. For a strong, sweet almond scent, the shrub rose Rosa rugosa ‘Roseraie de l’Hay’ produce warm purple blooms, with a hint of crimson. Each flower is approximately 11cm across, repeat flowering throughout summer into autumn for a consistent perfume.

Giving your shrubs the best start by planting them efficiently, so they grow and thrive in your garden. The first step is to give your young plant a good watering. Make sure the entire rootball is soaked in the pot, which can be easily done by submerging it in a bucket of water, or watering it well.  Then, dig your planting hole. AMES Tools’ Stainless Steel Planting Spade is designed specifically for this, with the narrow blade allowing you to shape the hole in the soil to within your exact preferred parameters. The blade is long too, which makes it ideal for planting shrubs which require considerable root space. Ensure the hole is the same depth as the rootball, and three times wider, and position your shrub, loosening the roots if they are slightly congested. Avoid burying the base of the stem, and then refill the hole, firming it down with the flat of your spade’s blade, or your shoe’s heel.

Climbers for summer garden fragrance

Not only do climbers offer beautiful vertical colour and visual displays, but they spread the scent around well, with it being able to cascade down over you as you enjoy the summer sunshine.

A popular and particularly impactful climber to grow in your garden for fragrance is Clematis flammula ‘Sweet Summer Love’, which is a quick grower and flowers reliably from July through to October in milder autumns. Their reddish-purple flowers have a lovely light scent, for areas you want a hint of fragrance without being overwhelmed.

For a more impactful, fruity, and sensual scent, common jasmine (Jasminum officinale) is a well-loved climber to include in your garden. With their five-petalled white or pale pink blooms, this fragrant climber’s fragrance has boomed in commercial usage, featuring as an ingredient in a variety of perfumes, candles, and other cosmetics.

Planting climbers require similar processes to that of shrubs, with a few slight tweaks. As with shrubs, your hole, dug with your handy AMES Tools Stainless Steel Planting Spade, should be the same depth, but only slightly wider than the original pot. If you have quite hard and compact soil, the AMES Tools Stainless Steel Planting Spade has been carefully forged into a point, making penetrating tougher ground much easier, with less strain for you. Plant and firm in as with shrubs, and water in well. Spreading mulch over the surface will deter weeds and retain moisture, and then tie the climbers to any supports you would like them to grow up.

Bedding plants for summer garden fragrance

There are hundreds of bedding plants with distinctive and heavenly scents to enjoy, whether they are for your borders, containers, or hanging baskets. You can find innovative ways to spread their fragrances throughout your garden effortlessly.

Spending time in the garden in the evening is habitual during the lighter, summer months. Therefore, you should consider including plants which produce a stronger scent at night, such as Oenothera biennis, which is common evening primrose. Grown as either annuals or biennials, their sweet evening scent is attractive to night pollinators, such as moths, hence producing their nocturnal bouquet.

For a familiar and entertaining scent, Cosmos atrosanguineus produces a fragrance that is strikingly similar to that of chocolate, hence the common name ‘Chocolate Cosmos’. These tuberous perennials have moody, maroon blooms which flower in late summer, and achieve their mouth-watering scent due to an organic compound called ‘vanillin’, which is present in cocoa.

Create a delightful bouquet of scents in your garden with a variety of differently fragranced plants this summer. By growing beautifully fragrant plants, you can enjoy your garden space in a whole new sensory dimension.