Fill your life with delicious scents

Fill your garden with scents and enjoy the sense of tranquillity and quiet joy that comes with them.

- Jackie French

Delicious scents make life happy, even if you don't realise their subliminal power. The smell of fresh bread, soup simmering on the stove, that joyful smell of a baby's head, the aroma of trees growing and bark and leaves turning back into the soil in the bush... they can revive you, heal you and add a sense of quiet joy.

The best way to surround yourself with good scents is to grow them in your garden, at least one strong fragrance for each season, with others to add subtlety and background. The choice of plants will depend on your climate, space and sinuses.

Port wine magnolia

This is an insignificant shrub with almost unnoticeable bloom until spring arrives and you suddenly meet their scent. Plant it in full sun or dappled shade where it doesn't matter if it's not flagrantly beautiful, but where the perfume will delight you.

Gardenia

Gardenia needs exactly the right spot. Feed your gardenias well. In cold climates grow them in a warm sheltered courtyard and they will be stunning, giving scent and bright white blooms all summer.

Oriental lilies