Sweet Peas are really a marginal annual for us, but penny4 sent me some seeds two years ago, and I planted them. The name is "America", and they were so beautiful and fragrant! They are a marbled white and red. Here's a photo. You will find them in several of the online catalogs. What fragrant annuals do you grow?
Night scented stock is my favorite scented annual-I got my first pack from T&M catalog. When the evening comes and these little 3/4 in flowers get busy releasing their fragrance-its like being in heaven-It is my favorite and Ive smelled alot of flowers! ;] A tiny sprig can give off so much fragrance, A tiny bunch of flowers can fill a whole room!! I bring them in and make all my boyz smell them and all their teenage friends! They agree it smells
goooooooooooooooooood!
I think its a must have flower!I plant it by a bench or under a window, somewhere you can enjoy a trip to heaven each night! =]
I didn't grow sweet peas last year but the year before I tried several of the old heirloom ones. "Painted Lady" was the one that out shined them all. It bloomed & bloomed right up until a hard frost.
I like the old fashioned nicotiana and petunias for fragrance too. Seems the unimproved varieties always have more fragrance then the new hybrids.
notmartha: I've grown dwarf stocks before, & a few in the greenhouse were wonderful. I purchased the night blooming stock seed this year, so I'm eager to enjoy their fragrance this summer!
poppysue: I'll have to give "Painted Lady" a try. I think I need to plant the sweet peas in my sunniest spot, since they don't seem to do well where it's dappled with shade. I love nicotiana, but the Breakthrough Mix I grew isn't the fragrant variety. I purchased seed for the old fashioned variety so I'm sure they'll be a favorite.
I also bought seed for heliotrope "marine", resida "mignonette", virginia stocks, & some old fashioned climing petunias. Last year I started seed collected from purple wave petunias that were second-generation plants. The petunias turned out to be deeply veined lavender petunias with the most heavenly scent.
They spread in a similar style to the Waves, but looked quite different. I'm planting more of that seed this spring, in hopes that they well turn out the same. It's probably some throwback to the original petunias used. What do you think?
I've saved and grown a lot of the wave petunias. Theyve done fine for me but I imagine if you keep saving seeds from the future generations they'll eventually revert back to the parents. I've grown the marine helioptrope too ... that's another one that didn't seem to have the fragrance that the old fashioned variety has. The most fragrant helioptrope I've come accross was a white one. Weez - If you have a big interest in fragrant plants you should send away for "The Fragrant Path" catlog. I believe the addy is in the garden watchdog. You need to send away for it - no website or tele number. It's a neat little catalog and I have to admit ... my favorite. He specializes in fragrant plants and has a lot of interesting seeds. It's interesting reading too.
Thanks, Poppysue: Lots of good information. Right after I posted this I visited the thread about Wave Petunias, and I can see that I should have done that first! Lots of good info there, as well. So, I guess one or two generations is all you can hope to get out of the Waves, then it's back to buying 10 seeds at a time! Meanwhile, as you said in the other thread, the surprises are good too.
Each year, I try to target some new plants to start, and this year I thought I'd try some fragrant ones. The marine heliotrope was interesting for its appearance, but as in most things, you usually lose something when you try to gain something else. The old heirloom varieties are usually the sweetest smelling.Yes, I definitely want to order the Fragrant Path catalog, but maybe I'll wait until it's too late to order this year! I've ordered seeds from 13 different companies this year. I'm a seed junkie!
