Flowers with scent

Flowers with scent must be on of the most beautiful things to receive or revive. Not only is the visual beauty uplifting, the marvellous scent of the flowers delights the senses. So send flowers with the perfect scent to someone you love.

Scent is such a popular element of cut flowers and the first thing we do when buying a bouquet is smell the flowers. Around a third of flowers are chosen due to scent, surveys have revealed.

As the perfume industry expends a great deal of effort trying to reproduce the authentic fragrance of fresh flowers, it is further proof that floral scents are one of the most popular smells in our lives.

Recent discoveries show that certain fragrances can have an effect on our emotions and well being. The scent of orange blossom or lavender can act as a sedative, while citrus smells are great pick-me-ups.

Due to growers cultivating cut flowers that have consistent quality, long vase life, good colour and disease resistance, some of the scent genes have been bred out of the flowers we buy. Growers and geneticists have recently started breeding more perfume back into cut flowers again. Flowers and foliage have begun being graded with a scent scale, based on strength of perfume and the type of scent - sweet, spicy, woody, exotic etc. In general, white and pale flowers are particularly strongly scented, eg oriental lilies, tuberose, tazetta narcissi. (Freesia are an exception to this)

As stated elsewhere in these pages, a cool room is better for prolonging the life of cut flowers, but too cool a room may prevent scented flowers giving off their full perfume.

Here are some few plants with strong-scented flowers or foliage:

Chrysanthemum
F lorists' broom (Genista)
Pink (Dianthus)
Stock (Matthiola)
Mimosa (Acacia)
Waxflower (Chamelaucium) -
Eucharis -
Bouvardia
Carnation - especially "Bagatel" (white spray), "Gipsy", "Candy White"
freesia - especially "Aladin" (yellow), "Blue Moon" (lilac), "Cote D'Azur" (purple), "Golden Wave" (rich yellow), "Oberon" (burnt orange), "White Wings" (white)
Hyacinth
Lilac (Syringa)
Lily of the valley (Convallaria)
Phlox
Rose - especially "Extase", "Jacaranda" (deep blue-pink), Nicole" (red with cream reverse), "Osiana", "Sterling Star" (lilac)
Sweet pea
Eucalyptus ( foliage )
Lavender ( foliage )
Matricaria (Tanacetum)
Grape hyacinth (Muscari)
Rosemary ( foliage )
Longiflorum
Lily
Narcissus - especially "Cheerfulness" (double lemon), "Paperwhite" (pure white), "Soleil d'Or" (golden yellow), "Ziva" (pure white)
Stephanotis
Tuberose (Polianthes)