Can you smell the Spring? Pleasant odors abound throughout the garden.

Sweet Bay Magnolia blossom has a sharp lemon scent

This is early Spring in Virginia. One of my favorite times of the year. This morning was absolutely gorgeous and as I was sipping my coffee on the deck, I was becoming intoxicated with the smells all around me.

The honeysuckle is in full bloom and the smell was drifting from around the side of the house were we allow a section to remain wild and grow uninhibited. Wow! What a wonderful smell.

Sweet, sweet honeysuckle

As I wandered around the garden, coffee cup in hand, I was treated to yet another wonderful smell. The lemony scent of the Sweet Bay Magnolia. One of the best. It tempts us for a few weeks in early Spring, then vanishes until next year.

Fragrance along with beauty, Sweet Bay Magnolia

And lets not forget the Peonies. Large soft bloom with wonderful rose scents. Don't forget to cut some and bring them in! It would be such a waste not to fill your home with this wonderful intoxicant. Some have already bloomed and are spent, but more are on the way, as they have some 3 weeks of varying bloom times in our garden.

soft and fragrant Peony

Peonies are unique

The middle of this one looks like confetti

So don't just plant for looks, plant for your nose as well. A good garden will have plants with different heights, different textures, different colors and of course, different smells. With all of that, then make sure you plant so that you have different colors, heights, textures and smells that happen all throughout the year, and don't all just happen at once.

What would be the point in that?

The Black Locust just finished its bloom time with its fragrant flowers