Consider Choisya and other fragrant plants

I was just walking around the gardens looking for some plants I have not written about in a long, long time. I have been a garden writer since the mid 1970s and have written about almost every single plant in our yard and in the nursery. I did find a few today that I think may be new!

In two places where it is somewhat dry and either sunny or partly sunny, I noticed the beautiful and fragrant white blooms of the Choisya, or Mexican orange. This plant is an evergreen shrub with blooms that are fragrant and star-shaped. I picked some with lily of the valley and dwarf lilac and have the bouquet on my kitchen table now.

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We have a Choisya plant back on the edge of the path in one of our display gardens where it gets sun most of the day but very little care. It is so easy to grow. The near by honey bees are often seen on the flowers. Choisya plants blossom in spring and usually have flowers through fall. The blossoms cover the plant and smell lightly of citrus fragrance, which attracts lots of pollinators.

They are both drought- and deer-resistant ! These plants can grow between 5 and 6 feet tall if not trimmed and would make a nice small hedge or privacy screen near a pool or patio. Choisya shrub care is much easier if you grow the shrubs in well-drained, acidic soil, which is what we have here. Adding compost to make the soil fertile is a good idea.

We have on Choisya just on the edge of our back patio, where its fragrance is so pleasant.

Of course I love lily of the valley, another fragrant plant that will grow in sun or shade. Just plant a pot or two of these and they will spread like spilled milk. I say this every time I write about them and really do think it. They are beautiful and one of the easiest plants I ever had. I have put them in prom and bridal bouquets for the last few weeks. They grow under our trees and shrubs and line the garden path from driveway to house.

But now I have a lily of the valley relative that is a new and different plant for us! Speirantha convallarioides is a small plant that resembles lily of the valley — its common name is false lily of the valley — and it has smooth evergreen leaves and white, starlike blooms that smell nice. In May, its flowers light up in the shade, where this woodlander grows well. If you plant it in shade or part shade, it will slowly spread into an impressive ground cover. Spring planting is very good. Like lily of the valley, it is fragrant; unlike it, it is evergreen.

I like fragrant old-fashioned roses, too, and think it is ideal to place one near or in an herb garden. If you use a safe natural spray as neem oil, you can keep the black spot under control. Roses have to be planted in very rich compost-type soil. A sprinkle of Epsom salt is also helpful in keeping them healthy. I love the fragrance so much that during Mother’s Day week I would run out into the nursery to cut some of the beautiful hybrid tea or garden roses to add to many of the arrangements I was making. I especially like the lavender and purple ones because they are not only pretty but fragrant.

I recently planted some beautiful calendula, one of my favorite old-time herbs. Its awesome blooms are used for medicinal creams, boiled to make a soak for splinters or irritations, and also sprinkled on salads or in rice dishes. These plants like spring and fall and often do not look very good in the hot days of August. But they do come back to life in fall if you feed them in summer.

We planted real French tarragon, which is a sterile plant with no blooms or seeds. This is a hardy perennial that sometimes does not like a hot and humid spell. As a backup, we planted a plant often called Texas or Mexican marigold or tarragon. It is actually related to marigold and has tiny gold blooms. Both are used interchangeably in foods.

A few others you may not have grown would include lovage, savory, cumin, marjoram and stevia.

Cumin is a flowering plant in the family Apiaceae, native from the east Mediterranean to India. Its seeds are used in the cuisines of many different cultures, in both whole and ground form. Ancient Greeks and Romans kept the ground seeds on the table as we do salt.

If you like celery, then lovage (Levisticum officinale) is a great herb to grow! It is an easy-to-grow perennial herb that can be used wherever you use celery in soups, salads. casseroles and stuffings.

Although you may never have used this herb, it is has been around for centuries. The Romans loved this aromatic plant and took it with them to England and many other places. I love to read about all the uses for lovage when it was grown in medieval monastery gardens. In those times, it was medicinal as well as culinary. It is said that the colonists brought it with them to America since it was so useful.

Just last weekend, a French Canadian friend came in to buy it and told me it is a favorite soup herb where she lived in Canada. So mix a little compost in the spot and plant a lovage now and it will grow into a permanent plant in your herb garden.

Marjoram hortensis is one of the most delightful of all herbs and also has many uses. This is not the one that is an oregano; it is a more tender and fragrant plant that Greeks and Romans considered an herb of happiness. Although it has many historic uses for all kinds of ailments, it may be best known as a tea for many digestive problems.

Other herbs, such as dittany of Crete, have awesome histories with many legends told about them. Looking up the history of herbs is so interesting. With a purple marker, you can trace the path of lavender throughout history. The Romans took it to the British Isles, but it was soon taken all over the world.

Email plant questions to lorrainekiefer@gmail.com and sign up for a horticultural online newsletter atwww.tripleoaks.com.

IF YOU GO

If you like herbs and want to learn more about them, come to the Triple Oaks two-day herb weekend May 28-29. I will be doing tours and lectures, and we will have guest speakers on lavender, teas and herbal healing. Karen O’Brian will be our keynote speaker on May 28 at 1 p.m. The Herb Society of America's South Jersey unit will have a table and answer herbal questions both days. For more information, visit www.tripleoaks.com.