NPR: Fragrant Homecomings

Fragrant Homecomings

If you traveled someplace gorgeous even for a day during this past 4th of July weekend, coming home might have been a drag. Ocean sand swapped for sweaty asphalt; mountain air morphed into the smell of grilling meat (my own personal vegetarian hell). So wasn't I full of gratitude today when, on returning from a shady park, I got out of a hot car onto the hot pavement to be greeted by the sweetest of scents blooming by my back door.

Yes indeed, sweet enough to get a strong whiff all the way in the front garden (admittedly, I do have a small house). Anyway, you get the point; subtle this vine isn't. But when faced with bucolic deprivation, make mine Trachylospermum jasminoides (rhymes with with "whack a low STERNum, sass man BOY tease").

Zoe Mae scoffs at the fragrant vine by our back door, Trachylospermum jasminoides. After all, what's the smell of a Chinese star jasmine compared with the redolence of a rotting mole?

photo by Ketzel

Now here comes the big DUH, particularly if you live in the Southeast or Northwest. I'm talking about the common Chinese star jasmine (doesn't ring a bell? OK, how 'bout Confederate jasmine?). Don't let the plant's common name fool you, though. It may be jasmine-like, but it's not a true jasmine.

And now for the big sigh. This lovely, glossy and well-behaved evergreen vine does not like single-digit temperatures. Perhaps you know better (of course you do, what was I thinking? Please advise). I've noticed that the cultivar 'Madison' is supposed to be hardier, but as we all know, plants don't read. (I crib that line with thanks to Tony Avent.

Caveat: IT'S NOT NATIVE! (once bitten, twice shy) but I've yet to read it's invasive. Just keep it off your trees if you live in Florida, OK?

So, your idea of a plant worth coming home to?

10:10 PM ET | 07- 8-2007 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

When I lived in Medford, Oregon I discovered the daphne bush (Daphne odora, or Daphne burkwoodii). It blooms in the spring with the smell of Fruit Loops (at least that's what my brain tells me it smells like)! There are massed bushes of it near the city offices and you can smell them as you walk up the sidewalk for the parking lot - I was looking for a blooming plant close to where I parked and couldn't believe that I was smelling the daphne from so far away.

Sent by Jen | 12:40 PM ET | 07-09-2007

I like to come home to a big shady tree I can sit under on a hot, sunny day.

Sent by Wright Bryan | 12:44 PM ET | 07-09-2007

I am seeing this plant everywhere. It is planted as a groundcover out in front of the new section of the Portland Art Museum. Makes sense I guess - isn't it related to Vinca? Honeysuckle is in bloom now too and the evening walks through our neigborhood are filled with the smell of these two scented vines. mmmmm

Are you ever tempted to plant something that would "play off" the color of Zoe Mae's tongue?

Sent by Kailla | 2:43 PM ET | 07-09-2007

I love coming home to ripe tomatoes warming in the sun. Not too fragrant - but do breathe in the distinct, yet subtle, smell of the leaves - I think the taste of these juicy red fruits makes up for any lack of fragrance.

Sent by Jesse | 3:06 PM ET | 07-09-2007

Jesse, you have a way with words. I can smell the tomatoes now. And Kailla, what a brilliant idea! A black and blue border! Hang on while I look in her mouth for inspiration...

OK, definitely black mondo and the darkest phormium for starters. Your move...

Sent by Ketzel Levine | 12:03 PM ET | 07-10-2007

Ok - for the obvious let's plant Salvia 'Black and Blue'. I love its dark calyx and true blue flower faces. And on the more subtle side how about the purple stems on Baptisia 'Purple Smoke'? What a lucky dog!

Sent by Kailla | 3:03 PM ET | 07-10-2007

I'm not sure if it's the same, but here in southern California, I love being greeted by what we call night-blooming jasmine, honeysuckle and the smell of the blooms on my lemon tree. Orange blossoms, too!

Sent by Nina Gregory | 4:06 AM ET | 07-11-2007

It's not fragrant but until I moved this past winter, I loved coming home to my fabulous ceanothus thyrsiflorus "Victoria".
I'm pretty much a sucker for anything that blooms that beautiful purplish blue, including a gorgeous prostrate rosemary I had near it. Not fancy plants, but just so satisfying, somehow. I guess the rosemary does qualifiy as fragrant if you run your hand over it!

Sent by Jane Finch-Howell | 7:33 PM ET | 07-11-2007

My back garden is built around the smells that mean home to me. The basic note is the star jasmine - in Southern California it grows all year 'round, but the biggest punch of smell is in March and April. Earlier is the temporary, fragile smell of my lemon and orange trees blooming, short and delicate. Afterwards comes the lavender, intense and homey, and then the rosemary, its resinous smell being the smell of cooking for me. This is where I set in the evenings, talk to my dog, and let the cares of the day go.

Sent by Lauren Uroff | 11:04 AM ET | 07-12-2007

I'm so jealous! Is there anything with that kind of fragrance that will grow in full shade in the clay I have to deal with here in Maryland?

Sent by Maureen | 9:37 PM ET | 07-15-2007

I was jealous too, Maureen, that's why I left the D.C. area for Oregon. But you've got wonderful fragrance depending on how well your clay takes organic amendments. Offhand, I think of the early spring fragrances of Sarcococca (the so-called sweetbox) and Chimonanthus praecox (wintersweet). Both handle shade - although admittedly, I do worry when you say FULL shade. Convallaria (lily-of-the-valley)? Hostas like 'Guacamole' and 'Fragrant Bouquet' are said to be good for sweetening up shade as well.

Sent by Ketzel Levine | 10:04 AM ET | 07-16-2007

Oriental lilies are hardy to zone 3 and I come home to my trumpets (I also have the orienpets, species, and hybrids) every year after vacation. They are swoon-worthy.

As for jasmine (the real type)--I have been overwintering a big trailing jasmine for five years now which comes out in its pot every summer. Well worth the trouble.

Sent by eliz | 10:55 AM ET | 08-03-2007

I live in Oregon and also find Daphne to be one of the most fragrant bushes! It's wonderful to come home to. I also like Syringa (Philadelphus lewisii), a bush with flowers similar to the mock orange; Syringa's fragrance is also very wonderful!

Sent by Melissa | 3:38 PM ET | 08-03-2007

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