Homestead’s Lead Designer, Christian Cobbs is sharing his 5 favorite fragrant plants of the moment.
After a rainy winter and a juicy spring, here we go barrelling into summer and our gardens overfloweth with loveliness. We are in that magical moment where the last of the spring blooms are overlapping with the onset of summer blooms. Here are the fragrant plants that are currently at their best and are really doing their thing in our gardens:
Salvia clevelandii: Hailing from the chaparralbiome of Southern California, Cleveland Sage is a cornerstone of our dry gardens here at Homestead. They are just getting ready to explode into bloom with stacked scapes full of gorgeous blueish, purple flowers. Beloved by butterflies, bees and hummingbirds alike, it is an excellent plant for attracting pollinators into your garden. The real fragrance factor here comes from the foliage, however, and not the blossoms. Spicy, sagey and resinous, the foliage smells amazing when brushed up against or when moistened. She is a big girl, spreading to a good 8' across in time. If that is too big, there are smaller cultivars and hybrids such as 'Winifred Gilman' and 'Celestial Blue' which are a bit more demure in stature.
Salvia apiana: One good sage deserves another. Another chaparral denizen, Salvia apiana, also known as white sage, is the traditional sage used for smudge sticks. Ghost-white, evergreen foliage is powerfully fragrant held on a sturdy shrub gives way to tall wands of blooms every spring into summer. The flowers are white to soft pink/lilac hued and can be as tall as 7' in favorable conditions (especially after the ample winter rains we have had). The flowers are the bee's knees as the latin epithet 'apiana' literally translates to 'bees'. This hunky chunky sage grows best on dry sunny slopes and is delightful mixed with native grasses.
Lavender: With ample varieties to choose from, Lavender (Lavandula species), is a cornerstone of any fragrant garden. Whether it is dwarf English 'Munstead' or the larger growers such as 'Provence, 'Phenomenal' or 'Goodwin Creek' varietals, there is a perfect Lavender for every nook or cranny in your garden.....just make sure they are getting full (or close to) sun. They are thrifty with water and appreciate decent drainage. The flowers and foliage both smell amazing. The effects of climate change have challenged us quite a bit with these garden lovelies, but have found that 'Phenomenal' and most of the English varieties handle the heat waves better than the traditional 'Provence' and 'Grosso' varieties. Make sure they get a good trim (we usually take off about a third of the biomass) once whether cools in the fall, and you should get about 5-10 years out of each plant.
Trachelospermum jasminoides: Common? Sure, maybe even, dare I say, ubiquitous, but I have been at this long enough to understand WHY certain plants are popular and have learned to appreciate them (afterall, nobody likes a snob!). The reason this plant is popular is that it happily grows almost anywhere and is in bloom for a solid 6-8 months. They are just now beginning to erupt into bloom, filling the air with it's pungent perfume, letting your nose know that summer is just around the corner. It can grow as a vine or as a large-scale ground cover....superb for tumbling over a retaining wall or clammeringup a trellis. It is not picky about soil, only needs moderate water, and is equally happy in bright shade or full sun, making it VERY handy for those oh-so-difficult transitional spaces in gardens. Plant en masse for the optimal olfactory effect!
Coleonema pulchrum 'Sunset Gold': Is it of-the-season? No. But that's ok. Sometimes you just need something static to hold down the fort in your garden. Perpetually evergreen, well.....chartreuse, it is a shrub that brightens up any sunny corner of the garden. It's bright color contrasts nicely with the silvers and greys of Lavenders and native sages (mentioned above) or with steely blues of Senecios and Agaves. You can also use it to turn up the heat by combining withCarex testacea or Anigozanthos (Kangaroo Paw). Plant near a pathway where the lovely woodsy, floral aroma of the foliage can be brushed up against and released into the air....there's really nothing else like it. Grows well in most soils with low/moderate irrigation regimen.
Thanks for reading! If you have any questions about Christian’s favorite fragrant plants of the moment or any other relevant garden queries please feel free to reach out to us via email: hello@hdcgardens.com In the meantime, don’t forget to keep up with our Instagram, where we post regular updates about Homestead: @homesteaddesigncollective.
Hope to see you all at one of our June events and have a wonderful holiday weekend!
-Stefani
