Blooms beauteous, but think fragrance first

Although most people consider color, height and bloom time when planning their gardens, fewer think about fragrance. This is too bad, as scents enrich and enhance outdoor spaces, bringing pleasure with their sweetness or spiciness and evoking memories of times past. Fragrance can be designed into the garden in the same way as color, so it can be enjoyed from spring until fall.

Following are some suggestions to expand and extend the fragrance in your garden.

Spring

Start out the season with some fragrant spring bulbs. Hyacinths are classics, known for their showy, highly scented flowers in a wide variety of colors. Grape hyacinths are fragrant, too, and their looser, more delicate habit makes them work well in naturalized situations. Some daffodils are also fragrant. Try Pipit, a 10-inch yellow variety, blooming in mid to late season, or Poeticus, one of the last daffodils to bloom. Its pure white flowers are centered with a diminutive yellow, red-rimmed cup.

Plant spring-flowering bulbs in the fall. They are usually available in nurseries around Labor Day.

One of spring's most highly scented plants, lily of the valley, is sometimes thought of as a bulb, but it is really a perennial. Keep it contained by a sidewalk or structure unless you are planning to use it as a ground cover. Be sure to pick some flowers for bouquets so you can enjoy their delicious aroma inside.

Sweet woodruff blooms a little later in the spring, and though not quite as vigorous as lily of the valley, it can also be used as a ground cover. It has pretty, bright green whorled leaves and delicate, starry white fragrant flowers. Plant this beauty in a shady spot. It looks lovely naturalized under trees.

Don't forget to add some fragrant spring annuals. Welcome visitors to your home by combining sweet alyssum and pansies or violas in a planter near the front door.

Spring-flowering shrubs add fragrance. too. Koreanspice viburnum is a must-have for the heady perfume of its pink-budded, white flowers in mid to late spring. If you have a spot with very good drainage, try growing some daphne Carol Mackie. This beautiful, 3- to 5-foot shrub has attractive, creamy edged foliage and fragrant pink flowers in May.

Lilacs may be the most frequently grown fragrant shrubs, and there are many varieties to choose from, in an assortment of colors. Plant some for screening or add to a shrub border. Peonies are another must-have plant. These long-lived perennials come in shades of pink, red, white and even yellow, and flowers can be single, semidouble or double. All are fragrant and great for cutting.

Summer

When we think of summer fragrance, roses may be the first plant that comes to mind. Many of the newer cultivars are bred for qualities other than their scent, but there still are many sweet-smelling varieties. Honey Perfume is a rich golden yellow; Heritage is a lemon-scented, light pink. If you're looking for a summer-flowering shrub, plant some Virginia sweetspire. Henry's Garnet grows 3 to 4 feet tall and features 6-inch, lightly scented white flower spikes in June to July. It has the added bonus of vibrant purple-red fall color.

Many summer-flowering perennials have fragrant foliage or flowers. Garden lilies provide superb fragrance, as do some hostas. The scent of hosta plantaginea's large, pure white flowers is fabulous.

Try some herbs, too. Several varieties of lavender are hardy in our climate if given good drainage. Most types of thyme are hardy in our area too. Plant a lemon-scented variety that will release its scent when brushed against. Rosemary is an essential for the fragrance garden, and it can be brought in to grow in a sunny window over the winter. Annual herbs are inexpensive and highly fragrant. Try adding several types of basil to the garden bed for a spicy scent and to enhance your summer menus.

One of my favorite fragrant plants is annual heliotrope. Grow this one near a patio or sitting area and enjoy its delicious vanilla fragrance. Heliotrope is available in white or deep purple and is suitable for container planting.

Fall

Chrysanthemums are the quintessential fall flower. Touch their aromatic leaves to bring back memories of past autumns. Fall is a perfect time to plant pansies, which are offered in rich autumnal hues. Many fall-planted varieties will survive the winter to bloom again next spring. Sweet Autumn clematis is a wonderful, fragrant, late-blooming vine. A very prolific bloomer, it is almost completely covered in small, star-shaped flowers from late summer into fall. It is also more vigorous than its summer-blooming cousins, growing 15 to 20 feet long.

Common witchhazel's fragrant yellow flowers bloom in very late fall, as late as early December. This native shrub's brilliant fall color is an added bonus.

• Maureen Safarik is a horticulturist at The Planter's Palate, 28W571 Roosevelt Road, Winfield, IL 60190. Call (630) 293-1040.