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Aromatic Foliage Has Ulterior Motives

Several Salvia species are splendidly aromatic.

Floral fragrance attracts insect pollinators. Foliar aroma repels insect pathogens. It might repel other herbivores also. For organisms that lack olfactory perception, plants certainly make productive use of it. Fragrant flowers are as attractive in home gardens as they are to pollinators in the wild. However, aromatic foliage has the opposite of intended effects.

In other words, aromatic foliage is popular within home gardens because of its aroma. Its effort to be repulsive to some insects and herbivores makes it attractive to people. Some aromatic foliage has culinary or herbal application. Actually, almost all herbs are notably aromatic, with corresponding flavors. Mint, chive, thyme and sage are popular examples.

Window boxes became popular in ancient European towns because of aromatic foliage. Where garden space was scarce, they were convenient planter boxes for growing herbs. Also, prior to window screens, they sustained aromatic foliage that repelled mosquitoes. Trailing rosemary, ivy geranium and nasturtium are still very traditional accompaniments.

Rosemary has both culinary and aesthetic application. Culinary cultivars exhibit the best flavor. Landscape cultivars are either trailing or more densely shrubby. Some cultivars of fennel are similarly better for either culinary or landscape application. Bronze fennel has become popular for both. Varied lavenders are more popular as home garden shrubbery.

Native bay is very aromatic when its foliage is disturbed, but is not culinary bay. It is a big and obtrusive tree that is proportionate only to large landscapes. Culinary bay is another smaller species that is more proportionate to home gardens. Also, it has a distinct aroma. Incense cedar is another very aromatic native tree, but is quite rare within home gardens.

Most aromatic foliage can not exude its aroma like fragrant flowers exude their fragrance. Most does so only when disturbed. Some, such as that of many conifers and eucalypti, is beyond reach. It is therefore easy to dismiss within some landscapes. Lavender, lantana, diosma, rockrose and salvia stay within reach. Warmth and humidity amplify their aroma.

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Myrtle

Myrtle is more foliar than floral.

Old landscapes of the Victorian Era may still include myrtle, Myrtus communis. It is quite a survivor. It had been popular for centuries because of its resiliency. It is very conducive to the sort of formal hedging that was popular during that time. As formal hedges became old fashioned, so did myrtle. Yet, it is still more sustainable than more popular shrubbery.

Besides, myrtle is not limited to refined shorn hedges. It can just as efficiently become an unshorn and informal hedge or screen. It can grow as tall as fifteen feet, but rarely grows higher than first floor eaves. Without pruning, it typically grows about half as wide as it is high. Selective pruning rather than shearing limits its size without ruining its natural form.

Myrtle foliage is densely evergreen and pungently aromatic. Individual leaves are merely an inch or two long. Small white flowers with prominent stamens may not be very showy. Small and darkly bluish black berries are sparse. ‘Compacta’ grows only about three feet high and wide. ‘Compacta Variegata’ is slightly more compact and variegated with white.

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Lantana

Lantana exudes a pungent foliar aroma.

Bloom continues as long as warm weather continues. Within warm exposures within the mildest of climates, it does not stop for long. Within cooler climates, Lantana camara may already be decelerating its bloom. Although remarkably resilient to arid warmth, it can be vulnerable to frost farther inland. Once established, lantana does not require much water.

Umbels of several tiny tubular flowers are about an inch and half wide. Individual flowers bloom progressively inward from the edges of their umbels. They are typically yellow, but then fade to orange, red or pink. Blooms therefore develop yellow centers within orange, red or pink edges. One cultivar is uniformly bright yellow. Another fades to creamy white.

Old fashioned lantana can eventually grow six feet tall. Congested old specimens might respond favorably to coppicing after winter. After coppicing, new growth can grow six feet high within its first season. Modern cultivars are generally shorter and relatively compact, and a few sprawl. Their very slightly raspy foliage is pungently aromatic when disturbed.

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Aromatic Foliage Attracts And Repels

Scented geranium supposedly repels some insects.

After their invention in ancient Rome, window boxes became overly prevalent in Venice. They contained herbs and vegetables where space was limited within such urban areas. Their produce was close to kitchens, and more visually appealing than nearby buildings. Several window box herbs produced aromatic foliage for more than culinary application.

The popularity of window boxes preceded the availability of affordable window screens. Mosquitoes were a nuisance within the swampy ecosystems around Venice prior to that. Therefore, besides their obvious usages, window boxes also sustained aromatic foliage. Such foliage, which was mostly also culinary herbs, repelled some troublesome insects.

Just as flowers attract pollinators with fragrance, some foliage repels insects with aroma. Some aromatic foliage intends to repel other large consumers, such as rodents and deer. Any potential consumers know that flavor is likely as objectionable as associated aroma. Ironically, some flavors or aromas that are unappealing to them are appealing to people.

Culinary herbs are perfect examples. Their strongly flavorful and aromatic foliage is quite repellent to insects and wildlife. However, it is an asset both for culinary and horticultural application. Some such herbs have cultivars for either culinary or landscape application. Trailing rosemary is a groundcover that has slightly milder flavor than culinary rosemary.

Several cultivars of lavender are popular for home gardens even if not for home kitchens. Their aromatic foliage is as delightful as their foliar color and bloom. The foliar texture of fennel is as striking as its foliar aroma. Thyme is both an herb and an aromatic, although irregular, ground cover. Mint and oregano are a bit more casual, but likely more aromatic.

Some of the most popular aromatic foliage has no culinary application, though. Its aroma more than justifies its cultivation. Scented geraniums and sages are remarkably diverse. Although most are quite pretty, a few are simply very aromatic. Most aromatic foliage can not disperse its aroma like floral fragrances. It requires some sort of disturbance to do so. Warmth with humidity enhance typical foliar aroma.

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Creeping Thyme

Creeping thyme is pleasantly aromatic, but not quite as flavorful as culinary thyme.

Trendy landscape designers like to set flagstone walkways slightly out of step to compel visitors to the garden to stroll through a bit slower. Between the stones, it is in style to grow creeping thyme, Thymus spp., as a very shallow groundcover that relinquishes its delightfully herbal aroma with any misstep. It stays too low to trip on, tolerates a bit of trampling, and needs only minor trimming where it creeps a bit too far onto stones or pavement. Creeping thyme can also be plugged into retaining walls of broken concrete or stone. The grayish green foliage is very finely textured. While the weather is warm, minute lavender flowers bloom in subdued phases that come and go slowly. Some varieties have more pinkish flowers, lighter green foliage or exhibit different aromas.

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Fragrant Flowers Have Ulterior Motives

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Demure daphne bloom is richly fragrant.

Many who enjoy gardening appreciate fragrant flowers. Many grow particular flowers specifically for their fragrance. Yet, not many consider why so many flowers are fragrant. Plants can not enjoy their own alluring floral fragrances any more than they can enjoy their own delightful floral colors and forms. They do not expect people to enjoy their bloom either. Human appreciation is incidental.

Floral fragrance is merely intended to attract pollinators. Flowers are inanimate, so rely on either wind or animate pollinators to exchange their pollen among other flowers. Animate pollinators are mostly insects, but may be birds, bats or other animals. Flowers do what they must to attract their preferred pollinators. Many use color and floral form. Many use fragrance. Some use both tactics.

Flowers that use both color and fragrance to attract pollinators are mostly endemic to densely forested ecosystems. There is more competition for pollinators within such ecosystems than there is within ecosystems of sparser vegetation. Otherwise, fragrant flowers are generally not as colorful as those that are not as fragrant. Likewise, the most colorful flowers are generally not so fragrant.

Angel’s trumpet is striking in bloom because the flowers are so large. Wisteria and lilac that bloomed last spring were spectacular because they were so profuse. The pastel hues of their blooms are no problem that their fragrance does not compensate for. Pink jasmine and mock orange are about as fragrant, even if their color range is more limited. Star jasmine is not always so profuse.

Pittosporum tobira and Pittosporum undulatum are even less visually impressive in bloom, but can be surprisingly fragrant. The tiny but richly fragrant flowers of sweet osmanthus, sweet box and night blooming jasmine are so obscure that other bloom is often credited with their fragrance. As the name implies, night blooming jasmine is powerfully fragrant after sunset during warm weather.

Freesia, hyacinth, narcissus, lily and some bearded iris are both colorful and very fragrant.

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Culinary Herbs With Landscape Appeal

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Culinary herbs work well within landscapes.`

Vegetables grow mostly in designated vegetable gardens because they are not appealing enough for the rest of the landscape. Flowers for cutting might grow in designated cutting gardens, from which they are not missed after harvest. Culinary herbs can grow in herb gardens for the same reasons. Some might not be very pretty. After harvest, some might be too shabby for the landscape.

Of course, such perceptions are debatable. Home gardens are casual and customized. If Swiss chard, artichoke and other vegetables can grow in front yard landscapes, then culinary herbs can too. In fact, some already do. Rosemary, thyme, lavender and a few other culinary herbs happen to be popular for landscapes because they are so appealing and practical. There is a slight catch.

Culinary cultivars of herbs are distinct from landscape cultivars. Trailing rosemary is a landscape cultivar with sprawling growth that works well as a resilient ground cover. Another cultivar exhibits more sculptural upright growth. Both are well flavored. However, neither is as richly flavored as culinary cultivars of the same species. Yet, culinary cultivars are not so remarkable for landscaping.

Most of us are satisfied with landscape cultivars of rosemary for culinary application. Alternatively, culinary cultivars, which are rare in nurseries and landscapes, can adapt to landscape functions. Cultivars of culinary rosemary happen to make nice low and mounding hedging. Infrequent shearing or selective pruning does not constantly deprive it of too much of its more flavorful new foliage.

The same applies to several herbs that have both culinary and landscape applications. Compromise might be in order.

Incidentally, two culinary herbs, Grecian bay and bronze fennel, are presently quite trendy. Grecian bay or sweet bay (which is not California bay) is a very popular potted plant. In the ground, it can grow into a midsized tree. Bronze fennel is supposedly comparable to common fennel, but with sepia toned foliage. Chive, parsley and borage all work nicely with mixed perennials and annuals.