Perennials with scented flowers or foliage, for a border or beside a seating area.
45 plants from our verified database, by name. A plant is only listed when the data this list relies on is not in doubt. How our data is made
Mentha suaveolens 60 cm × 1 m after 10 years
A mint with soft, woolly, rounded leaves whose mild, fruity, apple-like scent is good in teas, lemonade, salads and on desserts. The cultivar…
Actaea simplex 1.5 m × 80 cm after 10 years
A tall perennial for shade that carries long, white, strongly scented bottlebrush spikes from late summer into mid autumn, when most shade plants have…
Salvia greggii 75 cm × 75 cm after 10 years
A small-leaved, aromatic subshrub that carries red, pink, white or purple lipped flowers from early summer until frost and copes very well with heat…
Iris × germanica 80 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
The large-flowered, often scented star of late spring and early summer, in almost every colour and colour combination, with sword-shaped leaves held…
Monarda didyma 1 m × 90 cm after 10 years
In summer its shaggy red, pink or purple flower heads draw bees and butterflies, and the leaves smell spicy and minty when rubbed. It belongs in…
Nepeta × faassenii 50 cm × 80 cm after 10 years
A loose mound of grey-green, aromatic foliage that carries clouds of lavender-blue flowers from May to September and is a favourite of pollinators.…
Nepeta × faassenii 'Walker's Low' 75 cm × 90 cm after 10 years
This grey-green catmint brings lavender-blue flowers and plenty of pollinators to sunny borders, path edges and rose plantings. Once established it…
Paeonia lactiflora 90 cm × 90 cm after 10 years
A long-lived, bushy perennial with large, scented flowers in late spring and foliage that makes a good backdrop in the border until autumn. Plant it…
Allium schoenoprasum 45 cm × 45 cm after 10 years
A kitchen garden perennial that forms dense, grassy clumps: you can cut its hollow, onion-flavoured leaves from spring to autumn, and the purple globe…
Salvia officinalis 60 cm × 80 cm after 10 years
An aromatic subshrub with grey-green, velvety leaves that works both as a kitchen herb and as an ornamental, and whose bluish-purple flowers draw bees…
Achillea millefolium 80 cm × 80 cm after 10 years
A tough native perennial with finely cut, aromatic foliage and flat flower heads that bees and butterflies visit all summer; garden cultivars also…
Heuchera sanguinea 45 cm × 35 cm after 10 years
A low perennial with a mound of leaves that stays green through winter, topped from late spring to early summer by airy sprays of tiny coral-red bells…
Dianthus plumarius 30 cm × 50 cm after 10 years
An old cottage garden favourite: its grey, grassy leaves form a dense cushion all year, and in early summer it is covered in fringed, clove-scented…
Primula veris 25 cm × 20 cm after 10 years
A low, rosette-forming perennial of meadows and wood edges that opens nodding, fragrant, egg-yellow flowers in April on stems held above the leaves.…
Helichrysum italicum 60 cm × 90 cm after 10 years
A silver-grey evergreen subshrub with needle-thin leaves that give off a strong curry scent in sunshine and after rain, and mustard-yellow flower…
Narcissus × hybridus 40 cm × 30 cm after 10 years
Daffodils are among the most dependable spring bulbs: they return every year, the bulbs multiply by offsets so a handful thickens into a dense clump…
Iris pallida 90 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
A bearded iris with sweetly scented, pale lavender-blue flowers and grey-green sword leaves that stay tidy after flowering; the striped forms are…
Hemerocallis 'Stella de Oro' 40 cm × 50 cm after 10 years
A low, dense daylily that keeps producing lightly scented golden yellow flowers in flushes from early summer to autumn, so it is rewarding as an…
Lavandula angustifolia 60 cm × 80 cm after 10 years
An evergreen, grey-leaved, scented subshrub covered for weeks in early summer with purple, blue, pink or white flower spikes that bees and butterflies…
Lavandula angustifolia 'Hidcote' 60 cm × 1 m after 10 years
'Hidcote' forms a compact mound of silvery foliage topped with fragrant, dark-purple flowers that attract bees. It works well along sunny borders,…
Achillea filipendulina 1.2 m × 75 cm after 10 years
A tall, stiff-stemmed perennial whose flat, golden yellow flower plates last all summer and keep well cut or dried, while its spicy-scented, ferny…
Lupinus polyphyllus 1 m × 50 cm after 10 years
A cottage garden classic: tall, dense spikes in blue, purple, pink, red, white or yellow rise above hand-shaped leaves in early summer, and most…
Phlox paniculata 1 m × 80 cm after 10 years
A classic of the summer border: stiff stems carry large, scented flower heads in white, pink, purple or red that butterflies love. Plant it in sun…
Agastache × hybrida 80 cm × 50 cm after 10 years
An upright perennial with anise and mint scented leaves that carries dense flower spikes from midsummer to the frosts and is among the best plants for…
Muscari armeniacum 20 cm × 10 cm after 10 years
A low spring bulb with small grape-like clusters of mostly cobalt blue flowers (pale blue, white or pink in some cultivars) from late March to May;…
Hyacinthus orientalis 25 cm × 10 cm after 10 years
A spring bulb with dense, waxy flower spikes in April whose scent fills the whole garden; sold in blue, purple, pink, red, white and yellow cultivars.…
Hyssopus officinalis 60 cm × 45 cm after 10 years
A low, aromatic, woody-based subshrub that draws bees and butterflies with spikes of blue, or less often pink or white, flowers from early summer into…
Paeonia Itoh Group 80 cm × 90 cm after 10 years
A group of hybrids between herbaceous and tree peonies ('Bartzella', 'Cora Louise', 'Julia Rose', 'Hillary', 'Kopper Kettle'): it dies back to the…
Lavandula × intermedia 90 cm × 1 m after 10 years
A bigger, more vigorous hybrid than true lavender: a grey-green, aromatic subshrub that carries long-stemmed, strongly scented flower spikes in summer…
Melissa officinalis 60 cm × 75 cm after 10 years
A bushy, lemon-scented kitchen and tea herb: pick the fresh leaves for salads, syrups and tea, and leave the tiny flowers for the bees that love them.…
Calamintha nepeta 45 cm × 50 cm after 10 years
A low, bushy perennial that wraps itself in a cloud of tiny white or pale lilac flowers from midsummer until frost and is then one of the busiest…
Lilium × hybridum 1.2 m × 40 cm after 10 years
Garden lilies are the showiest flowers of the summer border and are also good for cutting and for large pots. Plant the bulbs in autumn or early…
Levisticum officinale 1.8 m × 90 cm after 10 years
A huge, long-lived kitchen herb that can reach two metres, with leaves that give soups and stews a strong celery, stock-cube flavour. One plant is…
Origanum vulgare 60 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
Oregano is a wildflower and a kitchen herb in one: from midsummer its pinkish-purple flowers are busy with bees and butterflies. It is happy in sunny,…
Mentha × piperita 60 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
A tea and kitchen herb with a strong menthol scent: the dark green, toothed leaves are good fresh or dried in tea, lemonade and baking, and its…
Centranthus ruber 80 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
A bushy perennial with fleshy, blue-green leaves that carries clusters of small, fragrant crimson, pink or white flowers from late spring to autumn…
Perovskia atriplicifolia 1.2 m × 1 m after 10 years
A subshrub with silvery, aromatic foliage that carries a haze of lavender-blue flowers from midsummer into autumn and is very popular with bees. It…
Scabiosa columbaria 60 cm × 45 cm after 10 years
Small scabious forms a low mound of grey-green, divided leaves and carries lilac-blue, pink or white pincushion flowers on long, thin stems from…
Saponaria officinalis 70 cm × 1 m after 10 years
An old cottage-garden perennial with pale pink or white flowers from midsummer into autumn that are strongly scented in the evening and draw moths. It…
Mentha spicata 60 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
One of the best-flavoured kitchen mints: its fresh, sweet-scented leaves go into tea, cold drinks, salads and meat dishes, and bees and butterflies…
Artemisia dracunculus 75 cm × 45 cm after 10 years
A bushy herb with narrow leaves that comes in two very different forms. French tarragon has a strong anise flavour, hardly ever flowers and sets no…
Satureja montana 40 cm × 50 cm after 10 years
A low, woody-based, semi-evergreen herb with glossy, narrow, peppery-scented leaves that you can use fresh or dried in the kitchen. From midsummer its…
Salvia nemorosa 60 cm × 50 cm after 10 years
A tough perennial of dry loess grasslands whose garden cultivars carry dense, upright spikes of violet, blue, pink or white in early summer, always…
Salvia nemorosa 'Caradonna' 60 cm × 50 cm after 10 years
Deep purple flower spikes and almost black stems work well in sunny borders, alongside ornamental grasses or in larger pots, and attract…
Lavandula × chaytorae 50 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
A hybrid of woolly and English lavender with silver-white felted leaves that look good all year and deep violet, scented flower spikes in summer…
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