THE smell of newly mown grass is somehow the essence of the summer garden.
It's easy to put scent last when planning a garden yet without it a big chunk of our gardening joy would vanish.
A less spoken of but insidious after-effect of COVID-19 is loss of sense of smell.
Quite apart from our human obligation to each other to help slow the deadly virus's spread, this loss alone is reason enough to get vaccinated.
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Scent hits us at many levels. Apart from sheer aesthetic enjoyment that brings a smile to your face, it unleashes memories faster than any photo.
A fresh mango takes me instantly to an earlier life in Hong Kong, a flowering gardenia is our newly married home in Sydney, a whiff of daphne is our first darling baby, born in midwinter.
The summer garden is awash with scent. I normally associate showy flowering trees with the tropics but there are several frost-hardy trees for temperate climates that bloom between November and March.
Flowering from now for several weeks is the small but lovely crepe myrtle, Lagerstroemia Natchez whose bold clusters of white blooms are, as far as I know. the only scented crepe myrtle flowers.
Natchez (5-6 metres), a cross between L. indica from India and south- east Asia and L. fauriei from Japan, is one of the Indian Summer cultivars, each named for a native American tribe; the Natchez people are from the lower Mississippi valley.
It has a spreading, slightly weeping shape, attractively peeling bark and gorgeous autumn leaf colour. Of all the crepe myrtles it's the most resistant to powdery mildew and it's fast becoming one of my favourite trees, each year I love it more.
Magnolia grandiflora (12m), also from the southern US is a splendid evergreen with glossy, dark green, oval leaves with a suede like brown reverse and big, creamy scented goblet shaped flowers in summer.
There are smaller cultivars that bloom from an earlier age, including ever popular Little Gem (4-5m) and gorgeous Teddy Bear (3m) that I have in a large pot, with unusually dense foliage, the reverse heavily felted.
The strongest scent of all my flowering trees comes from my Australian white cedar (Melia azedarach, 10m). I've caught the aroma from its purple December flowers from 40cm to 45m across a paddock, strongest in the early morning. It has pinnate leaves and carries dark gold, bead-like berries on its bare winter branches.
Several climbing plants smell glorious now. Hardy evergreen star jasmines (Trachelospermum jasminoides, white flowers, T. asiaticum, cream, 6m) take pride of place in my garden, beautiful on arches and lattice, slow growing and flowering through December and January. 'Tricolour' (2m,) is less assertive but also less hardy.
All the climbing honeysuckles are brilliant for quick cover. Lonicera 'Firecracker' (3m) has dark red and cream flowers, small, oval leaves and needs almost no pruning.
Lastly, my best summer scented shrub: Abelia x grandiflora (2m) has small, glossy leaves, clips beautifully into a dense hedge and has heavenly smelling, pink and white flowers from now to autumn.
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