Gardening – Sense the scents

Aromatic plants, with their alluring scents and multifaceted applications, have left an indelible mark on human culture, cuisine, and well-being. From traditional medicine and culinary delights to the fragrance industry and ecological preservation, these plants continue to enrich our lives in countless ways.

In the plant world, each scent is a tiny complex organic molecule, a volatile organic compound or VOC, that easily vaporises. While flowers of different species may appear similar in colour or shape, no two plants exude exactly the same scent. As well as attracting insects to flowers, these VOCs are essential for allowing insects to discriminate among plant species.

Plants possess scents as a means of sending messages, creating bonds with insects, and often pure survival. Beyond the beauty of our garden plants, our sense of smell is rewarded as many of the fragrant plants we grow send us messages as their scents waft through the air.

Our attachment to scents has meant gardeners have been growing and harvesting a wide variety of plants that produce these oils, including herbs, scented pelargoniums, climbers, and shrubs as well as flowers.

In the Middle Ages, perfume was beginning to be recognised for its healing powers, and perfumed waters were regarded as medicinal miracles. Hungary Water was one of the first alcohol-based perfumes in Europe and dates back to about 1370 when fresh rosemary and thyme were distilled with brandy.

I have been researching some of the plants I grow to see what messages they are sending. Ginger, for example, was used as incense as well as an ingredient in perfumes. Today I use it in cooking and extract its fragrance in health-giving hot lemon, ginger and honey drinks.

Eucalyptus, renowned for its fragrant oils that show antiseptic properties, is used in spas, soaps, mouthwashes, and aromatherapy.

Carrot seeds, often so difficult to grow, were used in both perfumery and the culinary world as the oil was distilled from dried seed by steam distillation. Steam distillation is also used with fennel seeds to create a standout fragrance.

Perhaps more familiar is the use of angelica in its candied form as bright green pieces to decorate desserts, but both the seeds and roots of angelica can also be used in perfumery. The stems can be eaten fresh as well.

Lemongrass is strongly affected by temperature, which will determine its fragrance when harvested, and although used in perfume making, I prefer to use the fragrant fleshy base of the stalk for cooking.

Instead of chemical air fresheners, just simmer a pot of rosemary to transform your house with its fresh natural scent.

The strongly scented purple flowers of Heliotrope (cherry pie) has a prime place in my vegetable garden. The clusters of fragrant flowers are used for making Tussey Mussies.