You’ll Smell These Two Plants As You Walk Past

Grow these plants along walkways for fragrance every time you pass by. Brush up against them, step on them or pinch a bit off as you pass. In every garden I make, I use a fragrant plant like this; it never fails to delight. These two are favorites: one thrives in sun, one thrives in shade.

 

Cardomom fragrance is that rich cinnamon, vanilla with something rooty and earthy mixed in. Just brush leaves as you pass; the fragrance is strong enough that you’ll catch it without bending over. For partial to deep shade, it grows well in the ground in zone 8 or makes an easy container plant in colder places.  But it looks totally tropical. If you take a minute to dig up a bit of root, its even more intense.

  Elletaria cardomomum is available for shipping. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lemmon Marigold goes by other names but the truth cannot be denied— this is a marigold that smell just like lemon pledge.  Occasionally, in full sun, you’ll smell it as you walk by, but mostly, you have to run your hand quickly across the leaves to release the fragrance.  Yellow flowers come at Thanksgiving, by the thousands. Some people are put off by this smell. In fact, a few people have a photosensitivity to it (that means, if they get the oil on their skin, when that skin is exposed to sunlight, it turns red and itches.)  Repels deer. This and other southern deer resistant plants are featured in our book Deep Rooted Wisdom.  Tagetes lemonnii.

During our October farm open house, we’ll have both of these for sale. To receive information about this events, join our e-newsletter.