There are a lot of delightfully sweet-scented flowers to love. The first one that comes to mind for me is the rose—especially an old-fashioned shrub rose.
But nothing stops me in my tracks faster than a whiff of Lily of the Valley. When I was in college I even had a perfume that smelled like Lily of the Valley.
But wait! What about lilacs? The scent is heavier and reminds me of spring.
And some people think the smell is cloying or over-the-top, but I also love the strong scent of Oriental lilies. A few blooms in a vase can fill up the whole house with their scent.
After several decades on this earth I thought I had sniffed all the best flowers until I came upon this shrub growing behind some plantings at a perennial farm one spring. I didn’t leave until I could find someone, anyone who could tell me what shrub was making that wonderful aroma.
The fragrance is heady, and when Koreanspice Viburnum shrubs are in bloom you can smell them from across a yard or even down the street if the wind is blowing in the right direction. The scent is pure heaven.
But Koreanspice Viburnum comes in second place. If I’m going to be surrounded by scented flowers, I can think of nothing better than flowering crabapples. You may have to stick your nose in them to get a good whiff (watch out for bees!), but just like lilacs, that wonderful sweet scent screams spring.
