Scented flowers for your patio..

Nothing says summer like sitting out late into the evening (possibly with a blanket, this is still Manchester, after all) and enjoying the fresh air- and if that air can be delicately fragranced by pretty as can be scented flowers in patio pots, heaven is but a quick shop away.

Being outdoors is so good for our mental health, and when our days are spent at work, or busily getting on with household chores, some evening downtime can work wonders for the cortisol levels. Whether you have an expansive garden, something barely handkerchief sized or a balcony space, there’s always room for a few patio pots, so why not choose to plant them with flowers to help lift your evening experience to new heights.

While scented plants produce their fragrance all day long, we can smell it best in the evening, when the cooler, moister air allows the scent particles to hook to water particles and travel further, right to our grateful noses.

Here are our top xx scented flowers that grow quite happily in patio pots you can set close by your seating:

Eternal Fragrance Daphne

Perfectly named, this pretty white-flowered plant grows in domes of green foliage and lots of tiny white flowers, sending out clouds of sweet perfume all the way from now till autumn. It’s an evergreen, and likes to be set in well-drained soil, so when potting up sit some grit or pebbles at the base of the pot, and lift it up on those little pot feet you can find in any garden centre. Daphne Eternal Fragrance doesn’t need a lot of care, just clip off dead flowers and pop it in a sheltered spot to overwinter, then it will burst forth again some spring for another season of happy scent.

Pinks

Pinks send out a classic, sweet and spicy fragrance and are one of our oldest cottage garden flowers, so perfect for any English patio. Some pinks are evergreens, some will give you just one season, so check which you are looking at when you choose your plant. They come in every shade of pink, as you’d expect, and in white, too, in a whole variety of plains, stripes and even spots, so you can dress your patio as pretty as a picture! They’re easy to care for – just water regularly (especially on hot days, as the water evaporates fast) and deadhead any spent blooms.

Lavender

You didn’t expect a scented plant post without the classic lavender, surely? Another evergreen, lavender comes in the palest purples and pinks. For fragrance, choose the English lavender, lavandula angustifolia, bees adore it and will happily float around it all day – but be gone by evening, of course! Lavender needs a good haircut every autumn, after it finishes flowering. Just cut back the flower stems (you can put them in jam jars and they’ll scent your rooms) and tidy up any stems that seem to be shooting off. They can get leggy and scruffy in a couple of years if you don;t pay attention!

Tobacco plants

Native to South America, Tobacco plants, or Nicotiana, produce a gorgeous scent all day long and it’s particularly intense in the evenings. They come in many sizes, from great big tall ones – Nicotiana Syvestris, which can hit 1.5m, to smaller, more compact ones, such as Nicotiana Eau de Cologne. They’re dead easy to grow from seed, but for instant results now, you can find ready grown plants in most nurseries. They mostly come in white, though you can find pinks and lilacs, too. Most nicotiana are annuals, though there are some that are perennial, though these shrubs wouldn’t be suitable as patio plants.

Finally, of course – roses

There are any number of rose varieties that can be planted in a pot (a good sized one, so perhaps not the ideal balcony plant) and provide colour and scent for you to relax into. Not all roses have a scent, or not one that’s strong enough to drift. Check when you’re shopping that it is suitable for a pot, and will give off a good scent, such as the hybrid tea rose, A Whiter Shade of Pale. Find one you love and the only risk is you’ll be hooked. There’s a rumour that roses are hard to care for – what with all that pruning and suchlike – but it’s a myth. Yes, you need to clip off dead flowers and yes you do need to prune, but it’s so quick and simple there are a million guides online as to how to do it. It’s a decision you won’t regret, as your carefully chosen plant comes back year after year, producing that heavenly scent that seems to be written into our DNA.

Eddie – 24th May 2024. (Image used from JP & Brimelow Estate Agents marketing team).