Garden Revival: add scented flowers to your garden! 🙌💞🌺🌿⚘

This post I am writing was inspired by an episode of ‘Garden Revival’ that I have been recording and watching for a while.

This post is inspired by an episode where they were talking about the decline of scented flowers in our gardens.

Scientists have discovered that flowers are losing their scent because consumers want better looking blooms and are choosing flowers for their looks rather than their scent and this is because the flowers often have to travel hundreds of miles to reach the shops, their toughness and looks have been valued more than their fragrance.

This is why the ‘garden revival’ have chosen to encourage people to plant more scented flowers into your garden; it obviously brings us much pleasure to have beautifully fragrant plants in our garden and we can use a lot of these plants for aromatherapy reasons and for culinary purposes but…

What is the function of a flowers scent?

Flowers of many plant species produce a scent. This scent is typically a complex mixture of low molecular weight compounds emitted by flowers into the atmosphere and its structure, color and odor are critical factors in attracting pollinators. Although flowers can be identical in their color or shape, there are no two floral scents that are exactly the same because of the large diversity of volatile compounds and their relative abundances and interactions. Thus, scent is a signal that directs pollinators to a particular flower whose nectar and/or pollen is the reward. Volatiles emitted from flowers function as both long- and short-distance attractants and play a prominent role in the localization and selection of flowers by insects, especially moth-pollinated flowers, which are detected and visited at night. Species pollinated by bees and flies have sweet scents, whereas those pollinated by beetles have strong musty, spicy, or fruity odors.

To date, little is known about how insects respond to individual components found within floral scents, but it is clear that they are capable of distinguishing among complex scent mixtures. In addition to attracting insects to flowers and guiding them to food resources within the flower, floral volatiles are essential in allowing insects to discriminate among plant species and even among individual flowers of a single species. For example, closely related plant species that rely on different types of insects for pollination produce different odors, reflecting the olfactory sensitivities or preferences of the pollinators. By providing species-specific signals, flower fragrances facilitate an insect’s ability to learn particular food sources, thereby increasing its foraging efficiency. At the same time, successful pollen transfer (and thus, sexual reproduction) is ensured, which is beneficial to plants.

[Information above is from: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-do-flowers-have-scent/%5D

Simply put; floral scents serve a purpose to the plants by attracting essential pollinators so by planting these scented flowers in your garden you are not only helping the plants become more successful and cultivated but you are helping the pollinators which are scarcely under decline worldwide.

So what other reason do you need to plant some scented flowers in your garden.

Here are a few I have selected for you:

So from the examples I have given you above, chose your favourites, where you would like to put them, if the conditions you have are suitable (shade or sun and what type of soil and space you have) and get planting and watch your garden come alive!! 🌿🌿🌿

Happy gardening.

Until next time.

Faye xxx

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