Preserve garden memories
As I am writing this, Hyacinths and Korean Viburnum are blooming and pumping olfactory goodness into the atmosphere here at Cheekwood. While walking around the gardens, I hear mothers, spouses, and friends commenting on the fragrant smells, exclaiming to their companions, “I could just lie down here on the ground and stay all day!”
Gardenia ‘Frostproof’
The plants manufacturing these scents are creating future memories for our guests while likely also trigging the past. For me, the powerful scent of gardenia can take me back to my grandmother’s front yard in South Georgia, where she grew one that I thought was giant (though looking back it was maybe only three or four feet tall). I am not known for my keen memory of events, but I truly believe because of the gardenia’s potency, I am able to remember key summer events occurring around summertime: playing baseball, catching salamanders, and shelling peas with my grandmother and aunts.
Little me with cousins, Lynn & Gwen in our grandmother's garden
This sense-inspired remembrance can be described as “involuntary memory,” a term first defined by Marcel Proust, the early 20th century novelist who wrote about recalling a childhood memory of his aunt giving him a madeleine when he bit into the very same cake years later.
What exactly is the connection between scent and memory? Research on the subject points to brain anatomy. The olfactory bulb, a structure located in the vertebrate forebrain, receives neural input about odors detected by cells in the nasal cavity. Our olfactory bulbs are directly linked to the amygdala and hippocampus, which are both channels for emotion and memory information only. No tactile, visual, or auditory data pass through these two brain areas. Scientists believe this is the reason smell does such an outstanding job at triggering memories and emotions.
Fragrant plants are key components found in memory gardens, built for those living with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. Peppermint and rosemary, particularly, are known to trigger memory and are commonly found in these types of healing environments.
Famed neurologist and author, Oliver Sacks, states in an essay titled On Memory, “In 1993, approaching my sixtieth birthday, I started to experience a curious phenomenon—the spontaneous, unsolicited rising of early memories into my mind, memories which had lain dormant for upwards of fifty years.” Using the writings of Sacks as a glimpse into the human brain, we can ascertain that while our memories may not always be living right at the surface, they are retrievable. Including fragrance in the garden can bring our noses joy but may also initiate a route to an experience we tucked away long ago.
The following is a list of my favorite seasonal scented plants. Include these in your own garden at home for a wonderful smelling yard full of memory enticements all year long.
Winter
Chimonanthus praecox
Chimonanthus praecox / Wintersweet
Not only does it provide a sensational fragrance in the middle of winter, the flowers are also lovely, occurring on bare branches with pale yellow petals and dark purple centers. Plant a background hedge of them if you can. During the other 3 seasons, wintersweet is a bit lackluster, though it does exhibit yellow fall color. I must admit, a floriferous and fragrant shrub in the cold bleak winter holds plenty of value for me.
Spring
Viburnum carlesii
Viburnum carlesii / Koreanspice Viburnum
With an outstanding, knock-your-socks-off fragrance, the snowball-type flowers hold rosy pink buds that open too a lighter pink, eventually maturing to white. Viburnum blooms give way to drupe-like fruits, attracting birds. Cold hardy, successfully growing in zones 4-7, plant in full to part sun as a back border or hedge.
Summer
Heliotropium arborescens
Heliotropium arborescens / Heliotrope
Because you already know about my love for Gardenia… I will go with Heliotrope.
Some describe its scent as cherry-almond-vanilla. I like that. However, I’ve always thought of baby powder. Either way, to smell it is absolute heaven. Most definitely an annual plant in our Tennessee climate, though it is considered a “hardy annual” and will bloom all summer right up to the first frost. The blooms are deep lavender-blue and do well as long-lasting cut flowers. If you are really attached to this plant, you can dig it up, pot it up, and bring it indoors to overwinter; it does very well as a winter houseplant. Whether growing in your garden or inside your home, remember that the plant is toxic to pets and humans.
Fall
Daphne x transatlantica ‘Eternal Fragrance’
Daphne x transatlantica ‘Eternal Fragrance’ & ‘Summer Ice’ / Daphne
Both of these daphne cultivars should be called “Eternally Blooming”, flowering as early as March in some hardiness zones and not stopping until frost. Plant in groupings. Resistant to deer and hardy to zone 5, though this genus is known to be finicky and placing them in a protected area is prudent. Either full sun or part shade exposure is good for daphne. Also, bees and butterflies are attracted to its blush pink color. It will remain semi-evergreen, if not entirely evergreen, here in middle Tennessee.
As you plan for your own fragrant-rich garden, think back to fond memories you have that involve nature. Creating a memory garden of your own allows you to share these sights and scents with loved ones, making new memories with old favorites.