We regard fragrance as an essential component of the garden, whether embodied in flowers, leaves, roots or the aroma of moist earth coming to life in spring. For many years hybridizers have been overlooking scent, but gardeners increasingly recognize the value of fragrance and are demanding that roses, sweet peas and flowering tobacco measure up to old-time varieties.
Odors evoke complex and highly individual reactions.
A scent that many find pleasing will be obnoxious and even intolerable to some. There are those who love the rich perfume of paperwhite narcissus and tuberoses, while others find them overpowering and even nauseating. A room-filling fragrance may be indetectable to certain people. To complicate matters further, seed-propagated plants sometimes lack the scent of their parents. For these reasons, we suggest that you sniff out candidates carefully before finalizing your garden plans.