Time to make scents

Winter garden fragrances come principally from flowering shrubs and bulbs. Shrubs close to paths are best as when you go by them you get a wonderful whiff.

Five of the best winter fragrances include:

• Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Dawn’ – honey and almond-scented flowers.
• Sarcococca hookeriana – strongly scented of honey.
• Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Aphrodite’ – zesty blooms.
• Lonicera fragrantissima – fragrant honeysuckle
• Sarcococca confusa – honey scented flowers.

 In spring these scent-sational perfumes will make way for other fragrances such as:

• Choisya ‘Aztec Gold’ – almond-scented white flowers.
• Clematis Montana ‘Fragrant Spring’ – this is the best fragrant clematis around.
• Nemesias – for example ‘Wisley Vanilla’. Scented nemesias like this one have perfumed flowers that can fill a patio with a heady scent while their dainty blooms are very pleasing to the eye too. This one smells as its name suggests of heavenly vanilla.
• Scented viola ‘Etain’ – a wonderful variety of viola with beautiful creamy flowers with lavender tinges and a sensational scent.
• Crown Princess ™ – a rose with superb, large apricot orange rosettes that have a strong, fruity scent.
• David Austin Rose Boscobel – a complex myrrh fragrance.