Gardening for the 5 Senses Part III: Fragrance Gardening
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- Karen_James
- Carol Wallace
- Karen_James
- Carol Wallace
- Cottage_Garden
- Carol Wallace
- Karen_James
- Carol Wallace
- Karen_James
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» Karen_James - Hi Carol, Great article! For me the strongest memories are in
Hi Carol,Great article! For me the strongest memories are induced by scent.
You mentioned that gardeners were clamoring for the return of the scented flower. Well, recently I've noticed a trend toward just such a recurrance from the larger seed developers. The most obvious is the production of the new scented hybrid cyclamen. The varieties are just as showy as the older varieties, but with all the soft scent you could ever want. I have Laser Lilac and Laser White with Eye blooming under my guest room right now. Makes me wish I'd thought to put some in containers for the house.
Now if my allergies would just clear up I could really enjoy the scents of the spring!
Karen James
-- posted by Karen_James
» Carol Wallace - Karen, The eternal paradox--spring brigs flowers, which bear
Karen,The eternal paradox--spring brigs flowers, which bear pollen, which stirs allergies so we can't smell flowers!
I bought cyclamen for the first time this year the the Philadelphia Flower Show--haven't planted them yet. Any hints?
Carol
-- virtually gardening
-- posted by Carol Wallace
» Karen_James - Carol, I am by no means knowledgeable about cyclamen. I leave th
Carol, I am by no means knowledgeable about cyclamen. I leave the seed propagation to the experts and generally buy plugs. From what I have read, they prefer a light cover when sowing and a thorough watering. Most varieties of cyclamen require dark for germination usually germinating within 21 to 28 days. Temperatures should range from 62 to 68 degrees depending on variety, much higher than that and germination is inhibited. A relative humidity is important after emergence keep it above 85%.I make sure to provide air circulation, moist soil (but not too moist or you get crown rot), and non-ammonium based fertilizer to my transplants. I am also careful to transplant the plug leaving the top of the corm slightly above the soil level. They grow best in night temps from 65 to 70 - I just let mine tough it out with the lower temps. They did just fine this year, especially as we had very few really cold nights this winter. Now they are blooming with nights from 50 to 60. To keep the moisture in the soil, I find I get the best results planting in high light with no direct sun. I will probably only have blooms for about two or three more weeks. Then it will be too hot for these plants. I didn't get any blooms last fall, which is when I normally see these plants set up.
Like I said in my last message, I have the Laser variety. These are really compact plants, and look terrific as a border to my "moustache" hedge. This variety is a profuse bloomer, I'm seeing from 15 to 20 flower stems on each plant. They show a very uniform habit and beautifully marbled foliage.
Karen James
-- posted by Karen_James
» Carol Wallace - Karen, Thanks! That was awfully informative for a "non-expe
Karen,Thanks! That was awfully informative for a "non-expert." I am definitely going to have to look for the laser series of cyclamen!
By the way--speaking of fragrance I just discovered daphne! It's blooming in my yard now. So is winter honeysuckle--lonicera fragratissima.
If course at this time of year, even just the smell of damp earth, ready to be planted, smells wonderful.
Carol
-- virtually gardening
-- posted by Carol Wallace
» Cottage_Garden - Hi Carol! The top fragrance at my house this week is the daffod
Hi Carol! The top fragrance at my house this week is the daffodil Thalia -- elaborate white flowers and heavenly fragrance, very sweet and strong enough to perfume quite an area on a calm day! Barbara-- posted by Cottage_Garden
» Carol Wallace - I love the Thalia daffodil too, Barbara--but I never noticed th
I love the Thalia daffodil too, Barbara--but I never noticed that it had a fragrance. Cheerfulness is the one that's really fragrant for me. And I'm eagerly awaiting the bloom of a new one I put in last fall called Fragrant Rose--a pink which is supposed to actually have a rose scent!Carol
-- posted by Carol Wallace
» Karen_James - There has been all sorts of talk about Boronia megastigma on the
There has been all sorts of talk about Boronia megastigma on the Medit Plants list. From what I gather this plant likes a warm sunny spot and has a delightful tangy citrus scent. I have no idea what this plant looks like. Any ideas on where I might be able to see a picture on the web?Karen James
-- posted by Karen_James
» Carol Wallace - Karen, There are a couple of sites with pictures. Unfortunat
Karen,There are a couple of sites with pictures. Unfortunately, they all seem to be the same picture. However,the site I'm listing here has both boronia megastigma "Harlequin" and another variety. The really fragrant one, which I can't find a picture of, is called "heavenscent".
-- posted by Carol Wallace
» Karen_James - Carol, thanks for taking time to research the sites. I checked o
Carol, thanks for taking time to research the sites. I checked out the one above, and the few you sent in the email. After that I still didn't have a good idea of the habit of this shrub so I dug out the Hortus at the office.Boronia megastigma Scented Boronia, slender shrub to 2 ft., pinnate leaves, lfts 3-5, linear, 3/4 in long; fls 1/2 inch across, solitary and axillary, rather open, very fragrant, corolla brown-purple outside, yellow inside. Source of oil used in making perfume.
With this description and the pictures on the web I think I now have an idea about what they are all talking about. Thanks again for the help.
Karen James
-- posted by Karen_James
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