In much the same way as you can vary scents from room to room, you can also orchestrate the fragrances of your garden to enhance the atmospheres you’d like to create.
The part of your brain that handles smell is directly linked to the parts that handle memory and emotion, and leading interior design house, Neptune, have curated a guide to help budding gardeners explore this powerful facet of garden design.
Around doors, windows and seating areas, and along those pathways you take when returning home, position plants whose scents you find most relaxing.
Lavender, which grows into clumps or can be arranged to create a low hedge, is best placed to line paths and the areas directly underneath windows.
You can use chamomile, which is lower and spreading, to create a flowering lawn and, although too delicate for kicking a football about on, it would be lovely around a bench or underneath a hammock.
Jasmine and honeysuckle are both climbers as, of course, are some varieties of rose, so train them to arch over doorways and around windows so you can appreciate their scent inside as well.
If you have a relaxed seating area in your garden with sofas and armchairs, consider planting the space with flowers that release their scent as the sun sets.
The sweet, dusky fragrances of nicotiana, night-scented stock, star jasmine, phlox and, again, honeysuckle are all gently soothing.
Very strongly or sweetly fragranced plants around a dining table can interfere with the food you’re serving, so this is the place for culinary herbs.
Basil, rosemary, thyme and oregano are all perfect and, of course, you can also then snip leaves straight into dishes.
Also consider including the likes of mint, lemon verbena, and lemon balm, all of which are refreshing after a bit too much to eat – both in scent alone and when infused in hot water as a tea.
If you have a dining spot in your garden, or perhaps even a shed where you work, then choose brighter, fresher scents.
Rosemary, mint and citrussy smells are all thought of as energising – there have even been studies into the memory-boosting properties of rosemary – so plant them around the doors and windows of a garden studio if you have one.
Alternatively, around the outdoor table where you choose to work on a warm day.
Autumn and winter in the garden are not as associated with scent as spring and summer, but there are a surprising number of plants that flower and give off scent in the winter.
Try sweet box, winter-flowering honeysuckles and viburnum, witch hazel and wintersweet.
Then, place them judiciously where you’re most likely to pass them at this time of year: around the house and garden shed, by doorways and gates and near to seating areas you’ll use year-round, just keeping them clear of the heat from firepits.
Finally, remember that comfort is also bound up in our own personal experiences and memories.
With this in mind, don’t forget to include your own personal favourites in the plan when crafting your aromatic garden.
