Question
Please tell me what flowering plants you recommend as far as fragrance.  Many people pass my house every day, starting early in the morning with the joggers and the speed walkers and then people walking their dogs, walking to the bus or train, walking to school or camp.  I would like to know what you think I can plant to become "the good smelling house".  Thank you in advance.

Answer
Years ago, a book titled The Fragrant Year became the bible for gardeners who felt just like you do. Helen Van Pelt Wilson and Leonie Bell gardened in Connecticut and published their diaries of fragrance and hardiness for every shrub, tree, annual, perennial and houseplant they grew between them.  It was a guide I have used ever since.

One point they made was that the most fragrant blooms are almost always the plainest. Keep that in mind when you select your plants.

At the top of my list is a tender bulb, the TUBEROSE.  It comes in single and double forms and takes forever to reach blooming size, almost always around the end of summer at the latest so that they are still sending up spikes in late October.  This is a flower with fragrance that will take over your entire block -- but only in the dark.  

Annual NICOTIANA and indoor tender houseplant CESTRUM NOCTURNUM are also night-blooming, light green flowers with intoxicating fragrance.

ROSES have to be included in any garden that is based on fragrance.  The most fragrant are not always compatible for cutting, but they will make a strong impression on passersby.  Most rosarians agree that ROSE DE RESCHT (home.hiwaay.net/~oliver/rosederescht.html), MADAME PLANTIER (home.hiwaay.net/~oliver/mdplantier.html), SALET (home.hiwaay.net/~oliver/salet.htm) and MADAME ISAAC PEREIRE (home.hiwaay.net/~oliver/mdeisaac.htm) are among the most intensely fragrant roses grown today, much stronger than tea roses.

HONEYSUCKLE is a common weed, but the fragrance it sends everywhere on a summer morning is always welcome.  Make sure you get Lonicera halliana, "Hall's honeysuckle"; hybrids may look prettier, but none will hold a candle to the plain and simple Hall's.

Several trees made impressions on Ms. Wilde as she was collecting notes for her book about fragrance.  Among her favorites: CHIONANTHUS VIRGINICUS, the white Fringetree, and TILIA CORDATA, Littleleaf Linden.

Lilacs esp. SYRINGA VULGARIS "BEAUTY OF MOSCOW" must go somewhere.  Compatible and fragrant alkaline-soil shrubs include DAPHNE ODORA and VIBURNUM CARLESII.

Oriental Lilies esp. CASABLANCA, the world famous best seller, will exude a strong, fragrant cloud all evening and thru morning during August.

WHITE PETUNIAS and SWEET ALYSSUM seem to have a very powerful fragrance as summer heats up.  EVENING SCENTED STOCKS, fragrant SWEET PEAS and WHITE MOONFLOWER are always on favorite lists for their scent.

I will add to your list if I have overlooked any.  Feel free to ask about others you don't see.  Until then, thank you for writing.