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Heliotrope! You Gotta Get Some!

© Barbara M. Martin

Please note: Thank you for visiting my Cottage Garden topic and reading my columns, published here from February 1997 through spring 2003! This Cottage Garden column was written by Barbara M. Martin and is Copyrighted by Barbara M. Martin. It may not be altered or copied or published elsewhere in whole or in part without specific permission from the author. I regret I am no longer actively editing or contributing to this suite101.com topic as of mid-2003. Happy Gardening!

Heliotrope is known by several names, including cherry pie, but by any name it is said to posess a wonderful sweet fragrance similar to that of vanilla. You've probably noticed heliotrope's perfume through a dark hot summer evening, just a musky sweetness on the still humid air. A scent to remind you of Grandma's garden or maybe the tropics.

While at a garden festival last week, I spent some time sniffing heliotrope seedlings in bloom and frankly, I couldn't smell much of any thing. I stuck my nose right into the flowers and maybe a faint hint, a mere soupcon, of sweetness, but nothing overwhelming. More like wishful thinking.

Some vendors told me the plants had to be more mature to produce the famed fragrance. Some claimed it only emitted the fragrance late in the day. or later in the season, or at higher temperatures. Still others suggested it might vary from plant to plant. Hmmm.

Every list of fragrant plants includes tuberose, jasmine and ... heliotrope. Even an across-the-pond fragrant garden from lupins to roses with Donnie McBean includes heliotrope.

There is no escaping it.

Every list of fragrant annuals includes heliotrope, either the potential three footer "Marine", or the newer Dwarf Marine which is a smaller size and better for containers.

For example, Annuals for Fragrance: Annual Carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus), Candytuft (Iberis spp.), Garden Verbena (Verbena horticultureensis), Heliotrope (Heliotropium spp.), Mignonette (Reseda odorata), Nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus), Pincushion Flower (Scabiosa atropurpurea),Spider Flower (Cleome spinosa),Sweet Pea (Lathyrus odoratus), Sweet Sultan (Centaurea moschata). Wallflower (Cheiranthus spp.).

Or how about, here's another one. Fragrant gardens are just so popular.

Be careful not to confuse this heliotrope with that heliotrope, that Jerusalem artichoke as explained here, although somehow I think the odds are more in favor of confusing it with so-called "garden heliotrope" or Valerian.

Valerian is fragrant, too, but in a totally different way. Cats are said to like valerian so much that they will roll in and around the plants, but my delicate nose tells me the cats are busy doing something else there. Maybe some of the real heliotrope would help!