Enhance The Beauty Of The Season With These Plants For Winter Scent
Winter can be a beautiful time for our gardens, even if many plants go into their dormant phase during this season. By implementing a carefully curated selection of plants, you can enhance the beauty of this magical season and create a natural winter scent to delight people of all ages.
Certain plants come into their own during the winter and are incredibly fragrant, delivering a unique ambience that can evoke senses of seasonal cheer and comfort. Although this may be the time to lay down your gardening tools, some small additions can make a difference to the season and allow you to appreciate your own landscape.
Bring some brightness to the winter days by implementing plants for winter scent, as recommended by our professional landscapers at Heath Landscapes & Garden Design.
Understanding Winter Scent: Why Some Flowers Are More Fragrant During This Season
During winter, many plants become dormant which means there are fewer competing fragrances across your landscape. This makes it easier for winter scent flowers to stand out, so you can notice and appreciate them better.
This reduced competition, along with the crisp cooler air, makes it easier for the scent to travel and create a truly unique ambience to your landscape during winter than at any other time of the year.
This will only be the case if you choose plants and flowers renowned for their life during winter, and do not overplant. Having too many flowers in your garden can make the scene overpowering and prevent you from being able to appreciate the beauty of the season.
Top 5 Plants For Winter Scent
No matter what type of garden you have, whether you are limited on time or space, you can incorporate some of the following plants to generate a unique winter scent and ensure your landscape continues to bring joy even in the colder temperatures.
1) Sarcococca (Sweet Box)
Known for its sweet, vanilla-like winter scent, Sarcocca is a compact evergreen shrub that blooms in late winter. It’s compact size makes it ideal for even the smallest gardens who are looking to maintain interest well into the winter, and it is easy to look after.
Sweet Box shrubs thrive in shady areas, as long as they are planted in well-drained soil, and need regular watering. They can also benefit from light pruning after flowering to help them maintain their shape during the winter.
2. Chimonanthus praecox (Wintersweet)
This deciduous shrub produces beautiful, waxy, yellow flowers which not only add colour to your garden but also emit a spicy, sweet winter scent. Ideally planted in full sun and sheltered positions, Wintersweet is a great addition to any garden looking for a unique appeal as the season progresses.
To keep the shrub at its best, ensure that it is pruned after flowering as this helps to encourage new growth while also maintaining its open structure.
3. Mahonia japonica
Similar to Wintersweet shrubs, Mahonia japonica also produces bright yellow flowers which can add some colour and interest to your garden during the later seasons of the year. However, these yellow flowers have a strong, citrus winter scent that will continue to bloom from late autumn through the winter.
These plants can thrive in shaded areas and require moist, well-drained soil. They do not need to be pruned or maintained during the winter, but come spring you will need to remove the dead or damaged stems to help promote healthy regrowth.
4. Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Dawn’
This hardy shrub features pink blooms that emit a sweet, jasmine-like scent during the winter. These pink blooms will appear in autumn and continue through til spring, bringing colour and winter scent to your garden where all others have disappeared.
Like many other plants in this list, it is a good idea to prune this shrub immediately after flowering to help maintain a good shape. Pruning like this also encourages new growth and ensures that your plants will return next season.
5. Hamamelis (Witch Hazel)
A common herb and beauty product, Witch Hazel has a distinct winter scent that can be very appealing. Along with its iconic winter scent, this plant produces spidery, fragrant flowers in multiple colours to add interest to your garden. These flowers can be red, yellow or orange, adding warmth to your winter landscape.
No pruning or additional maintenance is required for this plant during the winter, as work begins in spring once it has flowered. Following this flowering, you will need to remove any dead or crossing branches to encourage healthy growth.
Why Incorporate Plants For Winter Scent?
Incorporating flowers for winter scent can bring many more benefits to your life than just beautiful aromas. It should come as no surprise that winter is a difficult season, with its cold temperatures and lack of daylight hours so bringing any additional joy into the season can do wonders for your wellbeing.
Planting for winter scents can do just that, as aromatic plants provide a welcoming sensory lift during the darker months to give you a new focus and a brighter outlook. This is a great way to get out of your head and back into your body, where to magic of nature can be truly healing.
As well as offering benefits to humans, winter flowers and plants can also help other creatures. Many of the plants mentioned in this post become essential wildlife habitats during the winter, providing shelter and food for birds, insects and pollinators on milder days.
Finally, incorporating seasonal plants like those mentioned in this blog can improve your garden design. Considering the changes that your garden goes through with each season and choosing plants that bring out the best in your landscape no matter the weather can maximise enjoyment. Even when the rest of the natural world has gone dormant during the winter, you can enjoy a beautifully thriving garden by carefully curating your plant selection.
Conclusion
Choosing plants based on their winter scent can be a great way to prolong the appeal of your landscape and enhance the beauty of this magical season.
While winter is a festive time for many of us, it can also be drab with the grey weather and colder temperatures. However, by carefully choosing plants based on winter scent you can prolong the beauty of your garden well into the colder seasons and experience well-being benefits that come from sensory pleasures, like scent.
At Heath Landscapes & Garden Design, we aim to bring out the best in your landscape no matter the season and have a range of services available to help with all requirements.
Contact Us Today
To embrace the beauty of winter and support your garden during the changing seasons, professional help may be needed. Contact us today to learn more about our services or to request a quote.
