Heaven scent

When it comes to fragrance, trees and shrubs have one enormous advantage over other plants — their sheer size. Because they are big plants, they have more flower power and can generate perfume in much greater quantities. So much in some cases, that the tree or shrub can be smelled before it is seen. No other group of plants can fill the air with scent in quite the same way.

There are many trees and shrubs with good scent. One of the biggest scented trees is the lime, or linden tree, which flowers in summer and wafts great clouds of sweet honeyed scent over a big area. The common hawthorn of the hedgerows fills the air with its slightly musky warm scent in May. The horse chestnut is sweetly scented and, although the flowers ae usually too high up, its scent can be caught at ground level.

Among garden trees, one of the most beautiful is the Yoshino cherry from Japan which smothers its branches with blushpink flowers in March and has a sweet honey scent. The sweet box, flowering at the new year, is very much appreciated at that time of year. Witch hazel has a sweet light perfume in January. Daphnes of various sorts are renowned for a rich, rather heavy scent. Lilac, of course, in April, is wonderful, a heady warm but still sweet scent.

Mahonia is well scented, flowering in late autumn, with scent remarkably like that of daffodils. Romneya has a light, sweet scent, flowering through mid-summer.

Some rhododendrons, such as the lovely 'Fragrantissimum', are richly scented and this one is usually grown in a pot in a greenhouse. The deciduous azaleas have gorgeous rich, slightly spicy scent in May. Many shrubs roses are well-perfumed, especially the old cabbage roses of cottage gardens.

Magnolias have good scent in many cases, especially Wilson's magnolia and the evergreen Bull's Bay magnolia has the most seductive of scents — rich, oily and sweet too.

Osmanthus has small flowers but lots of them and produces a sweet, quite rich honey scent in late spring. Pittosporum has a good honey scent too. Poncirus is related to citrus, famous for lemon and orange blossom, and it has the sweet rich scent of citrus. The mock orange blossom, or philadelphus, is sweetly scented and can fill the garden on a warm summer day. Lots of choices and it is possible to have practically year-round scent from trees and shrubs.

Care for the environment: Hedgehog winter nests

If you have seen hedgehogs in the garden, or more likely, their small black droppings, it is worth considering how to help them to over-winter. They seek a safe place to hide and enter dormancy for the winter months when their food supply of worms and slugs is limited and the weather is just too cold. They like a dry place under piles of dead branches and leaves, and under hedges, sometimes in compost heaps. You can provide a pile of twigs and leaves on a dry bit of ground that will not flood, and who knows, perhaps a hedgehog will choose it as an overwintering spot?

This month in your Garden

• clip evergreen hedges, but not in exposed areas
• prune once-flowering roses, especially the late kinds
• apply autumn lawn fertiliser for a boost going into winter
• sow hardy annual flower seeds outdoors for next summer
• pot up shrub cuttings if they are well rooted
• take geranium cuttings if not already done
• repair damaged lawns by laying turf sods or re-seeding
• plant spring bulbs in pots or in the open ground
• plant out spring cabbage in a good soil in a sunny spot
• sow new lawn areas when the ground is ready