Fragrant Leaves and Flowers
An article by Rei from MIT
Fragrant Leaves:
- Lavender. (More on lavender in the Flower section, but the leaves are plenty fragrant on their own.)
- Scented geraniums (Pelargonium): Some varieties to try are some of the rose-scenteds (some are better than others), the peppermint, the lemon, and lime. Very rich, very fragrant. The “peppermint” is not quite the same as real peppermint, but is every bit its equal for energizing lift — and even better, doesn’t smell quite like toothpaste. Scented geranium leaves are used in cooking, and you can add leaves to tea - just beware the cooked leaves look really depressingly limp and dead.
- Peppermint and spearmint. Unfortunately these bring to mind toothpaste these days, but the scent is still brisk and refreshing. And of course you can eat them, put them in drinks… even make toothpaste oil from them…..
- Other herbs: oregano, sage, basil, and other mint-family herbs; there’s also fragrant leaves such as dill and cilantro. Even tomato leaves have a distinctive, sharp smell (though I wouldn’t eat them!).
- Shiso/Beefsteak plant/perilla. Word of advice: get your seed or leaves directly from a Japanese source or store if you can. I’ve gotten so-called purple shiso that didn’t have the nice, spicy perilla smell. The Japanese use these distinctly sweet-sour herbal-smelling leaves for pickling and flavoring condiments, but I read that you shouldn’t really eat too many of them plain.
- Onion family. If you’re a sicko like me, you might even enjoy garlic, chives, and onion leaves and flowers. Of course these are edible too.
- Houtteynia. Hmm, I’m not THAT fond of the leaves, but the sharp citrus-y/orange odor when you break one is pretty nifty. Some Houtteynia has orange/red streaks on their leaves, for a nice colorful effect. The flowers are small, plain, but very tidy-looking. Houtteynia is inedible, as far as I know, just so that’s clear….
- Pine. Well … there IS nothing like the scent of certain types of pine, including some types of hedges. (I wouldn’t eat these either.)
Fragrant Foliage Grown for Flowers
- Calamint - Calamintha nepatoides/nepeta (?), possibly var. “White Cloud.” The foliage is fragrant - spicy spearmint smell, very pleasant when crushed - but I really love this plant for its white masses of mint-family flowers (flower spikes). It blooms for months on end, right into autumn, without deadheading or indeed much attention whatsoever. Bees love the flowers, of course.
I also must put in a plug for its companion in my garden, which blooms in front of it: Ceratostigma plumbaginoides (leadwort). Ceratostigma, though not fragrant as far as I’ve noticed, has beautiful blue flowers and lovely red-tinged foliage (and can be invasive in some conditions). The two together are the visual highlight of my neglected garden because they just keep flowering (white calamint over the blue flowers and red-tinged leaves is so striking), don’t need trimming or deadheading, and keep looking fresh and interesting all throughout late summer and into fall. My echinacea is dead; the roses are a mass of black spots; everything is spent and done - except for the calamint and ceratostigma (and the too-airy tenacious sea lavender/hardy statice). I am amazed; I am in awe; I think I want to plant more of them both.