Best Way to Build a Nosegay Garden

Fragrant plants are always welcome in gardens. Nosegay gardens, however, are something special and a little different – ideal for introducing a wide range of rich fragrances to beds alongside patios.

In earlier years, nosegay beds were parts of medicinal herb gardens, at a time when a nosegay was a bunch of sweetly smelling herbs. Nowadays, ‘nosegay bed’ is a term given to a herb garden with scented plants.

Rich fragrances

Some herbs release fragrance through their flowers, others through their leaves, stems and seeds. There are many fragrant herbs to choose from, including:

• Lavandula angustifolia (English lavender): Evergreen shrub with aromatic foliage and fragrant flowers, which when dried are used in pot-pourris. It has been grown for many centuries and was formerly used in elixirs that were claimed to cure anything from swooning fits to vertigo and loss of memory.
• Lavandula stoechas (French lavender):
• Evergreen shrub, slightly less hardy than English lavender, with distinctive purple-tufted flower tops during early and mid-summer.
• Aloysia triphylla (but previously known as Lippia citriodora (lemon-scented verbena):
• Slightly tender deciduous shrub with strongly lemon-scented leaves when crushed.
• Convallaria majalis (lily of the valley): Herbaceous perennial with creeping rhizomes and roots. Arching stems bear bell-shaped, waxy-white flowers in spring. It can be an invasive plant and will penetrate loose brickwork.
• Reseda odorata (mignonette): Hardy annual with orange-yellow flowers throughout summer and often into autumn. As well as being used in nosegays, it was held in great esteem by lovers: an old saying suggests that good fortune accompanies a lover who thrice rolls in a bed of mignonette!
• Calendula officinalis (pot marigold): Hardy annual with daisy-like flowers, usually bright yellow or orange. Both the foliage and flowers have a pungent aroma.
• Rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary): Evergreen shrub with leaves that emit a rich, aromatic, slightly camphor-like bouquet. When preparing rosemary for room decoration, hammer the stem ends and place overnight in cold water in a cool, still room. Years ago, an old saying claimed that ‘where rosemary flourishes, the woman rules’.
• Scabiosa atropurpurea (sweet scabious): Hardy annual with sweetly-fragrant dark crimson or purple flowers borne on long stems from mid-summer to autumn. When cut, the flowers last a week or more before the petals drop.

Evening fragrance under windows

Small flowerbeds under windows are ideal places for sowing a combination ofthe hardy annuals Virginian stock (Malcolmia maritima) and the night-scented stock (Matthiola bicornis).

The Virginian stock grows about 20cm (8in) high, with red, yellow, white and lilac flowers that appear about four weeks after sowing seeds during spring and early summer in drills 6mm deep and 15cm (6in) apart. Thin seedlings to 15cm (6in) apart.

The night-scented stock grows 30-38cm high, with purple-lilac flowers that open at night and saturate the air with a rich scent. Sow seeds in patches with the Virginian stock, in drills 6mm deep and 20cm apart. Thin seedlings 20-23cm apart.