FAQs

Plant for Fragrance!

Add fragrant plants where you can enjoy them as you walk by or sit to relax: gracing a garden path, welcoming guests near your front door, filling a patio pot, hanging in a window box on the balcony, or adorning your favorite garden nook, where you like to escape with a good book. You’ll love the frequent bursts of fragrance.

When selecting plants for a fragrance garden, you’ll find spectacularly scented shrubs, perennials, bulbs, annuals, and—of course—herbs.Before you begin shopping, take a moment to plan your garden, choosing fragrant plants that bloom at different times throughout the year for a succession of scents through the seasons. You’ll enjoy sweet scents all season long with a little planning.

When choosing plants for a fragrance garden, remember that while fragrant flowers add sweet scent to a garden, the foliage of many plants provides fabulous fragrance, too. Run your fingers through a rosemary hedge, crush a citronella leaf, rub the leaves of a mint plant, or even walk on creeping thyme and relish a boost of aromatherapy.

Don’t Fear Failure, Learn From It

Just keep trying! As a professional, I’ve likely killed more plants than you will ever even grow! It is always disheartening when something goes wrong, from a single houseplant taken over by insects to a complete crop loss in the greenhouse, but it’s an excellent opportunity to learn. After kicking myself (and then blaming everything from the greenhouse to the pH levels in our water), I try to search out the solutions to prevent the issue in the future. It’s also ok to be realistic about gardening. I am an excellent horticulturist who can grow an incredible range of plants, but I cannot make an orchid rebloom on purpose. I accept that I refuse to internalize it, and I treat the orchids I buy the same as I would a cut-flower bouquet; when it’s done blooming, it goes into the compost!~ Jessie Liebenguth

I think fear keeps people from trying to garden. Start small and don’t be afraid to try something new. It can be ever so rewarding when you succeed. ~Barbara Park

So when asked this, I always refer to Miss Frizzle from the PBS show The Magic School Bus… “Take Chances, Make Mistakes, Get Messy!” A good gardener has made many mistakes, killed many plants, and still keeps at it. ~Jessica Cloninger

Keep trying if you do not succeed the first time because gardening is a great mental relaxation and a very rewarding experience. ~James E. Klett

Don’t give up if a plant doesn’t do well. Oftentimes people blame themselves when it could be something outside their control. Plants get sick like people (as this year has shown). ~Dr. Mark Yelanich

Experiment and never give up.  There is so much to learn in this great big horticulture world. ~Pam Bennett

My mantra is ‘plants want to live!’, so I believe in experimenting at will. You’ll soon realize how easy it is to be successful. I recently had a call from someone who had been told that she should get rid of a velvetleaf plant in her container. But she was fascinated by it, so I told her to keep it and appreciate its furry leaves and watch the development of the ‘button’ shaped seed pods toward summer’s end. I knew she would find it ugly at some point and then she’d be willing to toss it, but I thought that she shouldn’t stress about someone else’s opinion. ~C. Diane Anderson

Right Plant, Right Place

Keep trying! No one is successful all of the time and half of the fun of gardening is trying new plants and ideas and seeing what works. ~Penny Merritt-Price

 

Select the right place and habitat for your plants. Be sure to plant sun-loving plants in the sun and shade-loving plants in the shade. This is often overlooked and is vitally important to the success of your garden. ~Sarah Barbour

Always look and plant AAS winners to grow in your garden, they are trialed to perform for you. Do not be afraid to try something new gardening is never a failure, it is a grand experiment. ~Patty Buskirk

Make sure the plant you have is in the right location for growing. ~Shelly Prescott

Watering

• Plants can’t do the backstroke! 🙂 ~Denise Schreiber
• I have learned that the less you fuss over a plant, the better it typically does. When the plant wilts, it’s probably telling you that it needs water. If it’s not wilting, it doesn’t need water. If you are watering something in a container, pick the container up to feel how much water you’re putting in the pot; don’t trust your eyes. ~Rose Oberholtzer
• Learn proper watering methods & how to use them to encourage a vigorous root system better able to handle stress. It seems simple, but watering methods can be oversimplified & overlooked. ~Kelley Dunn
• Make sure you really take into consideration the amount of water your plant needs with the amount of water you intend/will to provide it. ~David Czarnecki

 

Garden Design and Curb Appeal

Planting flowering shrubs not only adds curb appeal, but your vases will benefit, too! Choose multi-purpose shrubs that make great cutting flowers, like hydrangeas, lilacs, or viburnum.