Stephanie Franklin wrote:

My wife is blind and I want to create a garden using fragrant plants. We
have a gardenia and a couple of roses. Oleander are also good although the
sap is poisonous. Daphne is another goody. The other requirement is the
plants must be water frugal. Any other suggestions? Maybe some web pages we
could look at?
Regards, Stan.

I seem to keep harping on about this, but *do* consider growing a plain
old White Dutch clover (yeah, the weed out of the lawn) as a specimen in
a hanging basket. It smells strongly of honey and is *so* pretty when it
spills over in a white froth of blossoms! The only thing you need to
worry about is not hanging it too close to your door: the bees can
become a problem! Maybe outside of a screened enclosure or window would
work better?

Another nice scented flower is _Viola odorata_ : the dear little violet.
Twenty years of smoking destroyed my ability to smell mine, but my son
tells me they're just glorious when they're all in flower! I like
collecting violets and there are quite a few different varieties to
plant in a specimen bed. Not all smell, though.

Wisteria has a lovely fragrance and can make a beautiful specimen plant.
Several years ago, I planted three different colours (white, pink and
purple) in the same spot. So far, only the purple has flowered, but
that's because I'm pruning the plants each year to try and standardise
them as well. Maybe I'm trying to be a bit too clever for my own
good...? LOL!

The native frangipani (Hymenosporum) has a lovely delicate fragrance and
grows into a small specimen tree. Pittosporum also has a lovely
fragrance, although IME it can grow a bit riotously out of hand if you
have a small block. And Buckinghamia celcissima (Ivory Curl Flower) is
another lovely, fragrant blossom tree with dark leaves and a glorious
show of ivory blossoms in the spring!

You ought to keep in mind that any plant with fragrance has this feature
because it's trying to attract its specific pollinator. In some cases,
that might be a large hairy moth, but in others it could be every bee
that lives within a ten kilometre radius! Be aware of the insect-magnets
you plant, won't you?
--
Trish {|:-}
Newcastle, NSW, Australia

PS. Your wife might be interested in some of the less attractive aromas
in the plant kingdom as well? I once had a rather attractive little
succulent plant called _Stapelia_ and it stank like rotting flesh! Not
pretty, certainly, but interesting from a natural history point of view!