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.

In article , "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.

citrus, jasmine, tuberose (or is it tuber rose? - not a rose, but a
bulb), alyssum come to mind.

cheers,

Marj

* * *
Marj Tiefert: http://www.mindspring.com/~mtiefert/
Marj's Mini Mall: http://stores.tiefert.com/
Coleridge shop: http://www.cafeshops.com/coleridgestore
Marjorie's Morning Star: http://newsletter.tiefert.com/
science editing services: http://science.tiefert.com/

On Fri, 11 Apr 2003 01:35:16 GMT, (M. Tiefert)
wrote:

In article , "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.

Also don't forget the herbs, they're mostly water frugal. Lavender and
rosemary, and the scented pelargoniums. I have a lemon geranium and a
rose geranium by my front door, and they make my house wonderfully
fragrant when the sun hits them. Lemon grass will add structural
interest in the summer and also give off a nice scent when brushed.

Tara

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!

"Stephanie Franklin" wrote in message
...
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.


Sorry, but I wasn't sure exactly what water frugal meant.

But what about Port Wine Magnolia?

--
Remove "not" from start of email address to reply

In article ,
"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?

You could try the Diggers Club catalogue; they try for drought-resistant
plants. Don't overlook culinary herbs. A bed of various mints could be
interesting, or planted somewhere where you walk on them. People make thyme,
pennyroyal and camomile lawns, though the descriptions sound very
labour-intensive.

My only other suggestion is that you raise some beds quite high so that your
wife isn't crawling around on the ground to smell the thyme! Actually some
friends of mine have made a thyme seat on the top of their (disused!) septic.

Don't overlook the natives. Lemon-scented tea tree, gum trees, mint-bushes (I
think they STINK, so try before you buy), brown boronia (apparently some
people can't smell this), baeckea virgata...

Try also for different textures -- lambs tongues or tibouchina are furry.
Asparagus (the edible one, not "asparagus plant") has soft fronds, and feeling
for the shoots in spring could be fun. Or bandicooting potatoes.

Other scents: freesias (only refracta alba; the cultivars aren't as nice),
diosma, elder flower, citrus plants, jasmine, and what about the resinous
scents from conifers?

Lastly, remember that it is possible for scents to clash, just like colours,
so proceed with caution! And we all have our preferences. I hate the smell
of Murraya paniculata -- it's too cloying -- but obviously lots of people like
it. I find some roses smell too "soapy", too.

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"...children should continue to be breastfed... for up to two years of age
or beyond." -- Innocenti Declaration, Florence, 1 August 1990

Hi!
You say:-
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 think that Wormwood and Rue are great for your purpose. For flowers
Cestrum nocturnum and white angels trumpet fit the bill, but could be
poisonous, or weeds, depending where you live.Citrus blossom can be really
heady, but has the advantage of producing fruit afterwards.
Alan

In article ,
"Laurie Stearn" wrote:

I think that Wormwood and Rue are great for your purpose.

Only if he wants a divorce!

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"...children should continue to be breastfed... for up to two years of age
or beyond." -- Innocenti Declaration, Florence, 1 August 1990

"Stephanie Franklin" writes:
My wife is blind and I want to create a garden using fragrant plants. We

Others have given some excellent suggestions. I love the fragrance of
lantana on a hot afternoon, and it's water frugal. Rather than grow
the common pink & yellow flowered one (noxious weed), you can get some
that don't seed. On one of the radio gardening programs recently, it
was said that the white lantana is the most attractive of the lantanas
to butterflies. The white flowers seem to have a stronger bouquet than
the deep purple, but the whites have smaller flower heads. Speaking of
butterflies, how about the buddlea? It does droop on a hot day, but is
going to be hardier than annuals. :-) The classic lavender-coloured
buddlea is the strongest scented of all the colours.

I like the scent of orange and lemon blossom, and with these you get
fruit as a bonus!

Sweet peas can probably be grown in a pot and they climb so are easier
to enjoy outside (no bending) and can be cut and enjoyed inside as
well.

The common jasmin is too overpowering to be grown near the house.
The frangipani is deciduous, so can be grown outside a window and
provides shade in summer and allows sun through during late winter to
spring.

Water frugal, eh? Then how about a cactus that produces edible fruit?
I don't know that the flowers will be scented, but a blind person can
enjoy the fruit (and that might be something special). I don't really
mean the prickly pear, there are others. Though you will have to be
patient until it reaches the bearing stage.
--
John Savage (newsgroup email invalid; keep news replies in newsgroup)

Chookie writes:
In article ,
"Laurie Stearn" wrote:

I think that Wormwood and Rue are great for your purpose.

Only if he wants a divorce!

Or even wants to keep the cats off his garden! (rue)
--
John Savage (newsgroup email invalid; keep news replies in newsgroup)

I've just planted 2 shrubs with strong perfume:
Bouvardia Humboldtii. &
Chimonanthus Praecox (Winter Sweet)
The winter Sweet flowers late winter just before the leaves come out.
These both have a love perfume.
Check them out to see how they grow in your area.
The Bouvardia like a semi shady area but the winter sweet will grow in
full sun.

Cheers and good luck.

Tom S....

Laurie Stearn wrote:
Hi!
You say:-

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 think that Wormwood and Rue are great for your purpose. For flowers
Cestrum nocturnum and white angels trumpet fit the bill, but could be
poisonous, or weeds, depending where you live.Citrus blossom can be really
heady, but has the advantage of producing fruit afterwards.
Alan

On Fri, 11 Apr 2003 11:27:04 +1000, "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.

Many years ago I remember visiting Kew Gardens in London. They had a small area
containing scented plants for blind visitors.
http://www.rbgkew.org.uk
Their email address is

Mike

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.

Lavendar, thyme, sage,