How to Make Garden Rooms a Sensation of Scent.

It’s no secret that I spent 6 years doing a medical degree and am a qualified medical herbalist.  Our family’s garden rooms business has exploded into full bloom and needs a little professional help from me. When asked to write a short article about creating a scented herb garden, certain plants immediately suggested themselves.

There are medicinal native herbs to suit any soil type and ground conditions, from boggy dank corners to full sandy sunshine.  The scented flowers and potent insect attractors represent the most environmentally conscious and humanly healthy plants to choose.

Garden scents are sensual, evocative, reminiscent, powerful and medicinal. Therein we have our low growing ground cover of thymes and chamomile (I prefer the german one, not the roman!).  For both cooking and making tea, thyme has a strongly antimicrobial action and is especially indicated for chesty infections.  Chamomile, the calm and laid-back flowers do just that throughout the gastro-intestinal tract and nervous system.  Both plants will grow in pavement cracks and along pathways, releasing their essential oils after footfalls.

Taking scent to the next level of planting, marshmallow, lavender, rosemary, sage, borage and verbena burst into blues and purples from May to September.  Contrasting with reds and oranges, calendula and californian poppy will remain happy in the sunny border.  I love to mix in nasturtium, just for the dimensions the flowers add to salads.  Or mix through carrots, beetroot or lemon balm for a true cottage garden approach.

The dark under canopies or damp areas can be revitalized with wild violets, bugle, lily of the valley or phlox. Some mints will tolerate damp, rich soil and shade and are very useful both medicinally and in the kitchen.

Butterflies and bees simply adore these flowers and by planting them you are doing a good turn for the environment and the failing numbers of pollinators.  Have a look at the RHS Perfect for Pollinators plant lists to refine your choices.  A trusted source for herbalists is the irrevocable book by Mrs Grieve, published by Tiger in 1973.