Tip of the Week — 9/8/08

Posted in Gardening Tips on September 8 2008, by Sonia Uyterhoeven

Late-Season Fragrance
Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education at The New York Botanical Garden.
As you stroll through the Home Gardening Center you will find that some of the plants tickle your nose: Both foliage and flowers can be fragrant.

In the new Sensory Garden you will find the foliage of the anise hyssop (Agastache ‘Blue Fortune’) is delectable. Attractive to humans, its strong fragrance repels deer.

Continue your journey around the garden and you will find a number of wonderfully fragrant hostas in full bloom. Hostas? Fragrant? Hosta plantaginea is the old faithful for fragrance and has been around for years. A newer introduction, such as the tempting Hosta ‘Guacamole’, has beautiful variegated foliage in chartreuse and green as well as an enchanting fragrance. If that makes you too hungry and you’re a purist for aroma try Hosta ‘Fragrant Bouquet’ or Hosta ‘So Sweet’.

One of my favorite late-season fragrance comes from the awkwardly named bugbane (Actaea aka Cimicifuga). The full beauty of Actaea ‘James Compton’ is on display in the White Country Garden. This late-season perennial has rich burgundy foliage and spires of white flowers that unfurl in early September to produce a sweet perfume that will knock you off your feet.