The Scentual Garden

This issue our gardening expert Conrad McCormick focuses on fragrance.

How often when we see a beautiful flower is our automatic response is bury our nose in its petals? We are almost hardwired to assume blooms will be scented, disappointment can follow if it's lacking in fragrance.

Scent has the ability to take us back to a forgotten moment and can remind us strongly of people and places from our past, it does this because our sense of smell is linked directly to the emotional control centre of our brain.

This explains why scent is such a powerful tool for bringing back memories or eliciting an emotional response. No other sense has this type of intimate link with the emotional centres of our brain. The sniff of a Pelargonium leaf immediately transports me to my Granny's house where she grew them on her kitchen window, while tangy tomato foliage reminds me of my ill-fated attempt to grow tomatoes in my greenhouse as a teenager.

Scent has also been demonstrated in many studies to have a profound effect on mood and behaviour, we use different scents to help us to relax or to re-energise, and the herb rosemary has been shown to help with memory.

Aromatic plants have been a key element of gardens throughout history. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were a paradise of cool terraces, aromatic shrubs and fragrant flowers, fruit and herbs. The Egyptians learnt how to extract fragrance and aromatic oils from plants to create incense, using frankincense, an aromatic resin tapped from Boswellia trees.

Our perception of scent can also be incredibly subjective, varying from one person to the next. I look forward to oriental lilies and trumpet opening their blooms in summer, when their heavy exotic fragrance will drift across the garden, while others can find them overpowering, even triggering headaches.