Growing Plants In A Container

Container plants for summer scent

Scented flowers are a definite plus for containers. Choose those with a long flowering season or that have aromatic leaves, so you really feel the benefit all summer.

Aloysia triphylla (1), lemon verbena, is the lemoniest scented plant I know, and great for containers. It's a tender bush with intensely scented leaves and insignificant white flowers. It reaches about
75 x 45cm (30 x 18in) in a container on its own over the summer — it'll be smaller in a container with other plants. Easy from cuttings; keep it in a frost-free greenhouse in winter, and enjoy brushing past it.

Salvia rutilans (2), pineapple sage, doesn't look a bit like herb sage. It has large, pointed-oval leaves and spikes of long, red, pipe- cleaner flowers. It enjoys the heat and, when bruised, the leaves have a strong and sweet pineapple scent. It needs a heated greenhouse in winter, and is easy to grow from cuttings.

Heliotropium arborescens (3), heliotrope, is a good plant for a sunny container, with large, wrinkled leaves, and big heads of tiny lavender- or violet-blue flowers that smell strongly of hot cherry pie. It'll reach 30cm (1ft) high by as much across during summer, but is happy crammed into a tub between other plants. Grow from cuttings or seed, or keep plants in a frost-free greenhouse in winter.

Scented-leaved pelargoniums (4) are old favorites. There are different cultivars that smell of anything from oranges and lemons to roses or spice if you bruise the leaves gently. Don't expect a fragrant version of the zonal pelargonium; they look nothing like them, though they grow to about the same size. A few have bright flowers, but most are unremarkable; small and off-white. Keep them in a frost-free greenhouse in winter; propagate from cuttings.

Matthiola bicornis subsp. bicomis (5), night-scented stock, is my first choice where there isn't much room, but — as you'd expect — it's only scented at night. The flowers aren't exciting — light mauve, pale pink and off-white 'stars' dotted on skinny plants, 15cm (6in) tall. Shoe-horn a clump in between more spectacular plants, or sow seeds straight into the container — they are only annuals.

Mentha x piperita f. citrata (6), Eau-de-Cologne mint, has attractive, round leaves that smell like scent out of a bottle, and lavender flowers. Mix it with herbs or cottage-style flowers — it grows about 45cm (18in) high. Mentha spicata, spearmint, is twice as tall but very minty and a pot will stop it spreading. They are hardy, so leave them in the garden over the winter.

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