A Frag rant GardenABOVE LEFT: Easy and fast growing, Freesia albabulbs flower with the sweet scent of spring in fullswing.RIGHT: Strongly scented at night, the large lilyflowers of Crinum moorei are a delight in thegarden and a vase. Photos: Liesl van der Walt.

14 March 2005 Veld&Flora

Scented and aromatic plants on saleat the Kirstenbosch Garden Fair

by Liesl van der Walt, Kirstenbosch

The Garden Fair at the end of summer is an important event on the gardeningcalendar, marking the change of seasons and activities. Mter the long dry summerdormancy in the Cape it is time to come back to life and sow and plant, startingwith spring annuals and bulbs. The cooler autumn inspires me to take out the

plant lists that I made in summer when it was too hot and dry to plant. Scentedplants are always prominent on my list - they give that extra dimension to the gar­den, whether planting a windbreak, shade tree or groundcover.

Fragrant flowersIn spring and summer the fragrance of flowers travels easily through the air,

surprising us long before we see them. The wild gardenias, Gardenia thunbergia(see cover) and Gardenia volkensii, have pure white, scented flowers and the wildjasmines, Jasminum multipartitum and J. angulare, are the well known, heavily

scented stars. Always breathtaking is the bride's bush Pavetta lanceolata coveredin white, scented flowers in early summer, followed by the pompon tree Dais cotini­folia that gives a spectacular show with an abundance of lightly scented, soft pink

flowers. Pittosporum viridijlorum, the cheesewood, is another tough, small tree, butit hides its sweetly scented flowers in small clusters tight against the stem.Buddleja saligna, Buddleja salviijolia and Buddleja auriculata are all tough, fastgrowing shrubs or small trees with an abundance of small, fragrant flowers. The

buddlejas are excellent as a hedge orscreen, or as a windbreak.

Slower growing but just as tough andbeautiful as a hedge is the big num­num Carissa macrocarpa with scentedwhite flowers that show up beautifullyagainst the dark green foliage. Itscrown of dark green, glossy foliage andstarry white flowers with a heavy deli­

cious fragrance make the poison bushAcokanthera oblongifolia a most attrac­

tive garden plant, but being very poi­sonous, it's not a wise choice for a gar­den with small children.

Hennannia pinnata, a groundcoverthat quickly covers a dry sunny spotwith its fine green foliage, is a delight in

spring with masses of small orangebell-shaped flowers filled with a sweethoney scent. Other fynbos shrubs withhoney-scented flowers are Protearepens (sugarbush), Metalasia muricata(blombos), Erica quadrangularis (babyheath) and Freylinia lanceolata (honey­

bells) that also attracts butterflies and

birds with its golden-yellow, honey­scented flowers. Smaller but not to be

missed are the strongly scented springflowering bulbs Freesia alba (wildfreesia or ruikpypie) and Babiana nana(klipuintjie) which are easy to grow, butoften better to plant in pots so thatthey are not lost while dormant insummer. Flowering throughout sum­

mer the blue water-lily Nymphaeanouchali creates a cool and inviting

atmosphere in a garden with a pond,the elegant flowers only opening in thefull sun to release their fragrance.

In the shade, you may be surprisedto find out that the striking flowers ofthe bush lily Clivia miniata are fra­

grant, while the scented flowers oflarge-leaved dragon tree Dracaena alet­rifonnis and the Ngome lily Crinummoorei are at their strongest at night.The fragrance of many flowers intensi­fies at night to attract pollinators suchas moths. A nocturnal visit to

Struthiola dodecandra, a small fynbos

shrub with creamy flowers, the Ifafa lilyCyrtanthus mackenii with yellow tubu­

lar flowers and the March lily Amaryllisbelladonna with large trumpet shapedflowers scented with a sweet fruityfragrance, could be quite a headyexperience!

Fragrant foliageA gentle touch or crush of the leaves

releases the fragrance of many plants.

Citrus, sage and pelargoniums aresome of the more familiar gardenplants with strongly scented foliage.Hemizygia canescens is a special sageto find at the fair. It is a summer-grow­ing shrub with decorative leaves edged

with dark pink lines that smell verystrongly of coconut when crushed.Orthosiphon labiatus is not as strongly

scented but worth a sniff and a place inthe garden as one of the best smallshrubs for summer display.

A favourite to plant along the pathedge is Pelargonium tomentosum with

ABOVE LEFT: The elegant blue water-lily Nymphaea nouchali only opens its flowers in full sun to release a soft perfume. RIGHT: A buchu filled with scented oils, Agathosmaglabrata only needs agentle touch of its fine foliage to release astrong citrus smell. Photos: Liesl van der Walt.

March 2005 Veld&Flora 15

peppermint scented, velvety leaves thatform a soft, light green carpet in thesemi-shade. Pelargonium radens smellslike peppermint and Pelargonium cit­ronellum has a wonderful lemon scent.Pelargonium cucullatum, a strong shrubexcellent for flower colour in early sum­mer, has its own characteristic sweetsmell while Pelargonium scabrum, withleaves shaped like chicken feet, has apeculiar bubblegum smell.

Belonging in the citrus family,Rutaceae, most of the local fynbosbuchus are rich in strongly scented

oils. The evergreen confetti bushColeonema album with a sweet lemonscent, is an excellent waterwise shrub.Agathosma glabrata also has a lemonscent, Agathosma lanceolata (heuning­boegoe) smells like liquorice whileAgathosma cerefolium (anysboegoe)and Agathosma ciliaris smell likeaniseed. Agathosma apiculata (knoffel­boegoe or garlic buchu) is so stronglyscented, it fills the air aroundRiversdale and Mossel Bay. A deepbreath of the intensely aromaticAgathosma crenulata (boegoejbuchu)

relieves a blocked nose or sore chest.Many medicinal plants have smelly

leaves; their strong fragrance beingpart of the cure as with Mentha longifo­lia (wild mint), Tulbaghia violacea(wild garlic), Salvia africana-Iutea (wildsage), Eriocephalus africanus (wildrosemary) and Helichrysum petiolare(kooigoed). Some herbs have strange,sticky smells like Stachys aethiopica(unofficially called dead man's bush),Melianthus major (kruidjie-roer-my­nie), Artemisia afra (wilde-als) andTetradenia riparia (iboza). Clausena

ABOVE LEFT: With a strong citrus smell, Pelargonium citronel/um is a lovelyshrub with attractive foliage. Photo: Liesl van der Walt.RIGHT: With leaves that smell of peppermint, Pelargonium tomentosumquickly covers the ground in the shade. Photo: Liesl van der Walt.BELOW RIGHT: The delicate leaves of this special sage, Hemizygiacanescens, smell of coconut when touched. Photo: Cherise Viljoen.

16 March 2005 Veld&Flora

anisata (perdepis) a pretty little treewith soft foliage and bright fruits, mustbe one of the strangest with leavesoften smelling strongly of horse urine.Interestingly this is one of the mostwidely used of all trees in African med­icine. Another popular medicine is thestrong but pleasant smellingTarchonanthus camphoratus (wild cam­phor) with aromatic foliage and flowers.It occurs naturally throughout SouthAfrica and is one of the toughestshrubs or small trees from the coast tothe Kalahari.

Dotted with oil glands that release acitrus smell when crushed, Veprislanceolata (white ironwood) is a lovelysmall tree for the garden with a canopyof shiny, light green foliage. Fun to

have in the garden is the stronglyscented Heteropyxis natalensis (laven­der tree) a small tree with a white trunkand glossy green foliage that turns abeautiful yellow-red in autumn. I can'tresist crushing a leaf whenever I passit.

If you'd like to add some sensorydelight to your garden, come and visitthe Kirstenbosch Garden Fair wherethese fragrant plants will be displayedfor you to see, touch, smell and buy.

Further readingJoffe, P. 2001. Creative gardening with indigenousplants. Briza, Pretoria.Palmer, E& Pitman, N. 1972. Trees of southern Africa.Balkema, Cape Town.

ABOVE: Atough groundcover for full sun, Hermannia pinnata flowers in spring with small orange flow­ers that smell of honey. Photo: Liesl van der Walt.BELOW: Afragrant walk through the medicinal garden, touching the scented leaves of Helichrysurnpetiolare (kooigoed), Pelargonium cucullatum (Wild geranium), Tetradenia riparia (iboza), Artemisiaafra (wilde als) and Leonotis leonurus (Wild dagga), is acure in itself. Photo: Liesl van der Walt.