Do you want to create a scented garden and are still looking for the right plants? Then you've come to the right place! We love the Experience nature with all your senses - and fragrances play a central role in this.
Many popular fragrant plants such as lavender, rosemary and lemon balm are widespread in German gardens. Even if they are not originally from Germany, they offer wild bees and other insects added ecological value through pollen and nectar.
But just as uniquely fragrant and even more valuable for the local Biodiversity are some native plants that have adapted to our climate and wildlife over thousands of years.
Of course, fragrances are always a matter of taste - but the following perennials, herbs, shrubs and small trees native to Germany and Europe are generally considered to be particularly fragrant and should definitely not be missing from your natural fragrance and aroma garden. Let's go!
Benefits: Why Create a Natural Scent Garden?
At this point I would like to give you another small motivation boost by listing the most important reasons for having a scented garden:
- Create a sensory experience: The natural fragrances of the flowers from the garden stimulate the sense of smell in a very special way and turn the garden into a place of relaxation and inspiration.
- Promote Biodiversity: Native fragrant plants create habitats for wild bees, butterflies and many other insect species - and counteract the Species Extinction against.
- Using medicinal herbs: Many native aromatic plants also have a long tradition as medicinal plants and can be used in a variety of ways, for example for teas or home remedies.
- Minimize maintenance effort: Native scented plants are generally robust, adapted to the location and local climate and require less watering or fertilizing.
- Protecting the environment and resources: By avoiding exotic ornamental plants, you shorten transportation routes and create bridging islands between larger regional biotopes.
10 Fragrant Wildflowers and Herbs for Your Garden
Let's start with the native wild perennials and wild herbs that bring wonderful flavors to your garden and are also important for the insect world. The first ten plantsthat you should definitely place in your fragrance garden.
1. Field Thyme (Thymus serpyllum)
If you are looking for insect-friendly scented plants for the garden, there is no way around sand thyme or field thyme. The umbel-shaped pink flowers bloom like a carpet from June to October. Yourstrong, tart and spicy fragrance always reminds me of Mediterranean herbs.
Tip: Since thyme grows flat, it is definitely also one of the most bee-friendly ground cover plants.
2. Honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum)
The head-shaped white flowers of the forest honeysuckle blossom from June to September and exude an intense, sweetish and pleasant scent, especially in the evening. honey-like fragrancewhich attracts countless species of insects.
You get the perennial here* or in the plant trade.
3. Wild Garlic (Allium ursinum)
Wild garlic is also a beautiful native fragrant perennial. Spreading like a carpet, the white flowers give damp, shady corners of your garden a Spicy, garlic-like aroma.
If you like you can these wild garlic seeds* sow or give you Buy wild garlic here*.
4. Sweet Woodruff (Galium odoratum)
Among the aromatic wild plants for the fragrant garden is the fragrant bedstraw, better known as woodruff. Its cross-shaped white flowers, which bloom from May to June, give off an hay-like, sweetish odor which the woodruff owes to the coumarin that is produced when the plant dries and is attractive to bees, but above all to butterflies and caterpillars.
You can get woodruff seeds here* - and Here is the potted plant for insertion*.
5. German Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla)
When it comes to native and sensationally fragrant flowers for the garden, chamomile must also be mentioned! Its white ray florets radiate from the yellow tubular flowers inside flowery and apple-like fragrance and are visited by over 73 species of wild bees.
Chamomile seeds for sowing you get here*.
6. Wild Marjoram (Origanum vulgare)
The aromatic herbs for the aromatic garden also include the native oregano. The intense Spicy-smoky fragrance of the two-lipped pink flowers from July to September also makes the plant so interesting for wild bees, caterpillars, hoverflies and a variety of butterfly species.
Oregano seeds are available here* and You can order oregano in a pot here*.
7. Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria)
This native wild perennial has crown-shaped white flowers that bloom from June to August and sweetly scented with a combination of honey, almond and orange. The sweet smell of the plant also attracts numerous species of wild bees and many other pollinators from the insect world.
If you like, you can Order meadowsweet as a pot plant here*.
8. Wild Angelica (Angelica sylvestris)
The aromatic, slightly spicy fragrance of white, multi-lobed flowers that can be admired from July to September belongs in every natural scented garden. However, to ensure that it remains interesting for you and the insects in your garden, it needs moist and nutrient-rich soil.
You can get angelica seeds here*.
9. Meadow Sage (Salvia pratensis)
Are you looking for more native garden plants with unique scents? Then I can recommend the meadow sage. Its lip-shaped flowers bloom blue from April to August smell spicy-fresh. Meadow sage is therefore also a first-class plant for wild bees and butterflies.
The You can get meadow sage seeds here* - and Here you can get it as a potted plant*.
By the way: Rubbing the leaves with your fingers also produces an aromatic scent.
10. Sweet Violet (Viola odorata)
In my search for fragrant garden plants that are native and bloom early, I came across the fragrant violet, whose purple flowers bloom from February to May and give off a pleasant, persistent, flowery-sweet fragrance spray. Some wild bees, as well as butterflies and caterpillars, like to visit the aromatic wild plant.
You can get the seeds* here for the fragrant violet.
5 Fragrant Shrubs and Trees to Complete Your Garden
In addition to the fragrant wild herbs and perennials, there are also some native woody plantswhich not only delight us humans with their special scent, but also wild bees or the popular Attract aphid-eating ladybugs. Here I present five larger plants for the fragrance garden:
11. Common Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna)
Under a hawthorn tree or on a hawthorn hedge, in spring a sweetish-tart fragrance in your nose, which many natural gardeners call Mixture of jasmine and lilac describe. The densely cupped white flowers of the medicinal plant appear in May and June - and provide a habitat for numerous insects, including wild bees, hoverflies, caterpillars and beetles, in the scented garden.
If you like, you can Order a hawthorn here*.
Tip: A hawthorn also provides food and shelter for numerous birds, which is why you should Make your garden more bird-friendly can. You can find out what else is important in the linked article.
12. Dog Rose (Rosa canina)
The delicately and sweetly scented cupped flowers the bee-friendly wild rose in early summer from May to June not only attract many human noses, but also wild bees.
You can get a dog rose from a plant shop or here online at the nursery Horstmann*.
13. Elderberry (Sambucus nigra)
From May to June you should definitely visit the numerous, aromatic, fruity-scented, white flowers of the elderberry. The wild shrub should not be missing from the list of the best native fragrant plants - and is also of great importance for some insects, but above all for many bird species.
If you are interested, you can Order an elderberry bush here*.
14. Apple Tree (Malus domestica)
The white to pink-colored blossom of the cultivated apple appears from April to May and exudes an aromatic scent. subtle, fruity-sweet fragrance. The domestic insect-friendly tree is also a valuable bee pasture and provides food not only for insects but also for birds until late summer.
Here you can get a Buy organic apple tree online*.
15. Alpine Laburnum (Laburnum alpinum)
The Alpine laburnum should not be missing from this list of fragrant garden plants. Its slightly sweet, pleasant fragrance accompanies the yellow flowers from May to June. Laburnum is a beautiful insect pasture and is of great value to around 59 species of wild bees.
You can enjoy the Alpine golden rain order here*.
Create Your Own Natural Scent Garden with These Native Plants!
A natural fragrance garden combines beauty, fragrance and ecological added value in a unique way. With these native plants, you are not only creating an oasis for your senses, but also actively supporting the local flora and fauna.
Whether wild perennials, herbs, shrubs or trees - each of these plants plays its part in transforming your garden into a little A paradise full of life and fragrances to transform. Try it out: Even a small area with fragrant, native plants can make a big difference.
"Perfumes are the feelings of flowers."
Heinrich Heine (more under Fragrance quotes)
Do you have any questions, suggestions or can you think of any other fragrant plants that could be included in a Natural garden fit? Then I look forward to your comment.
Stay, of course,
PS: Have you got a real taste for natural gardening now? Then I can only warmly recommend the book Designing low-maintenance natural gardens* by Paula Polak to my heart. I also learned an incredible amount from it. I hope you enjoy reading it!
