around here its the lilacs! every old farmhouse has at least a few in the yard. i like to drive thru town after a rain when they are blooming! brings back memories of us kids playing in my grandparents lilacs!
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I like daphne odora and lily of the valley too. Lily of the valley can grow outside here . daphne can only grow in pot
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Iām with Moose71 and marknmt here. Not many smells can compete with good old fashioned lilacs in my personal opinion.
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I love lilacs too! I am getting rid of most of the plants in my yard that dont produce fruit or nuts, but I will always need to have at least one lilac. I have never figured out how to keep cut lilac flowers, without them wilting right away though.
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Does dissolving a couple of aspirin in the water help? I donāt know, but some people swear by it.
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sounds worth a try!
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my mother used to do that and swore by it.
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Thereās some kind of Osmanthus ā I think fragrant tea olive is the common name ā that grows in Raleigh, NC (not native to Raleigh but that grows there) that has an amazing perfume. There was a row of bushy trees next to the railroad tracks that was probably 20ā or more tall. They bloomed in October/November, which made the scent especially nice. I could smell them from 50ā away.
I have a satsuma that has very nice smelling blooms. Do hardy trifoliate citrus have the same scent as other citrus?
Chickasaw plum always has a very nice fragrance in the very early spring, typically the first showy blooms of the year for me.
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I grow that osmanthus here in the Triad and itās my favorite!
I have a white akebia that smells great all spring, too. Itāll make fruit if planted with another akebia.
I was very surprised to smell my Danish elderberry. It is so wonderful! Iām even moving it closer to a seating arbor I have. Itās one like Samdal that starts with an S whose name I never remember.
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Sambucus nigra 
my American ones smell great as well.
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I really like Gardenia, Jasmine, Honeysuckle and flowering tobacco (smells awesome at night).
I have many potted Gardenia inside the house. They are pretty easy to overwinter in the kitchen. Biggest issue i have is spider mite type bugs on them. They also need weekly waterings.
Out of the fruit trees i like the smell of some plums and sweet cherries blooms but they are so short livedā¦i guess the same goes for lilacsāwhich smell amazing but oh man do they come and go quickly.
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there are some newer cultivars of lilacs that flower continuously throughout the summer. Iām considering planting a few.
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unfortunately not, as the fragrance is considerably muted, or maybe just here where humidity is low or non-existent. Calamondins and oranges seem to hold their fragrance well in AZ and southern NV conditions. Oranges unfortunately need protection in so. nv.
if you can grow trifoliates, you can try kumquats, which can withstand frigid temps better than most other citrus, and bear flowers more densely than trifoliates, although not as fragrant as orange blossoms. Calamondins are easily the most cold-tolerant of citrus that also bear flowers which approach orange blossoms in quality and intensity.
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Im told some newer lilacs have no smell
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i canāt imagine why someone would breed and sell such a plant. the whole reason of growing a lilac is for the smell.
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Bought a lilac with variegated flowers called Sensation. Very pretty blooms, no fragrance. Blooms were somewhat stingy, too. Needless to say it was gone from my yard after a few years.
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Mock orange has to be my favourite, followed with peonies and lilac. Unfortunately they are all spring bloomers, leaving the later summer days scent deficient in my yard.
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Happy to see the positive reviews for mock orange! We are planting one of those this year (Philadelphus lewisii āBlizzardā, as well as a āVenusā hybrid calycanthus, which is also supposed to have fragrant flowers that bloom over a fairly long period of time. Both from Fedco (the Venus calycanthus was a new offering for them this year). My wife is particularly fond of sweetly scented plants, so I had been looking for something along those lines that would do well in our zone 5b location. I plan to plant them in an area that is next to our dining room window and the porch where we have dinner in warmer weather.
Clove currant sounds intriguing but itās not clear whether theyāre permitted here in MA - something I have to look into.
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only Ribes nigrum are banned here in n. Maine. clove currant is a different Ribes species ,native to the midwest, and not banned in most states. i have a couple crandall clove currants and they smell fabulous in spring! fruits are not musky like euro. blacks and are great fresh eating. they are drought tolerant so they can grow in areas that get less moisture. mine are growing in a gravelly sparsely grassy area of the yard. water well to establish them the 1st season and then they fend for themselves.
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