Spring Annuals.... No Non-scents

I offer my sincere apology to Mrs. Ogden, my eighth grade English teacher, for the above double negative. More simply put, I want to share some beautiful, cold-tolerant spring annuals that also bear the gift of fragrance. Who doesn't like two for one?

Beware sniff-test shopping on a cold spring day and understand that you won't be getting an accurate scents (unforgivable, but I've no pun shame) of fragrance. It will always be stronger on a dry, sunny day when temps are warm. Some deliciously scented spring annuals to tickle your olfactory organ:

• Alyssum - Also called "sweet alyssum". Unlike many of the cold-tolerant, short span spring beauties this workhorse goes the distance season long until the big fall freeze. Bonus points! Really a blanket-flat, ground cover annual 3-4" tall, growing 6-8" wide. Color range has been expanded from granny's white, purple-ish and pink to include strong violet, rose and even apricot. Whites tend to have the strongest aroma.

While it will cascade in containers, it may be underwhelming as the growing season progresses and it's steam-rolled by taller, beefier neighbors. I love it for front of window boxes and in-ground as an edger. Will tolerate light shade (note tolerate, not prefer), but not water-logged soils. Do get out the scissors and shear back declining flowers after each wave of bloom to keep the flowering encores coming. Just don't be overzealous and scalp to the ground...

• Dianthus - "Annual pink" shouldn't be confused with its biennial cousin, Sweet William (Dianthus barbatus). Like alyssum, not just a one-shot spring wonder, but will bloom all season, especially if it's a cooler summer, or they're sited in some afternoon shade when it's H-O-T. Well-drained soil. Gorgeous shades of maroon, purple, red, pink, white, and killer combos thereof. Great in beds or containers. Those who deadhead will reap the rewards of their labor.

• Pansies & Violas are already a fragrance "given" for those that read the last post, "A Pansy Primer".

• Stock - A florist flower fave for decades. Scent is generally touted as spicy clove. Flowers can be double or single, clustered in short spikes on plants ranging from 12-18" tall. Colors are: pink, white, rose, antique cream and purple. Foliage is gray-green. While they shouldn't be exposed to frost/freezing weather, they stop performing when daytime temps rise and stay about 75 degrees F. Stock can have a 7-10 day vase life, which is a long time as cut flowers go. For those that love to dry flowers, stock is a great candidate. They can be grown from seed, but you'd better start early to have sizable plants to transplant in early spring. Better to buy larger, budded plants, I'd say.   

• Sweet pea (annual) must be grown by anyone that loves sweetly fragrant pastel flowers. If Heaven has a fragrance, it must be "sweet pea" (one man's opinion - mine)! The scent is unlike any other flower, light, distinctive and unforgettable. It's a grandma flower, for sure, and that's part of its charm. I think it's gotten lost for a couple of generations as it doesn't transplant well. It also doesn't have much sales appeal as a leaning green baby vine in a 4" plastic pot. Therefore, sweet peas should be seeded directly into their final resting place, or in peat pots that can be broken down without disturbing the skinny root system. Soak the seeds overnight or nick with a nail file to break through the tough seed coat to speed germination.

Sweet pea is a cool/cold season vine that need a trellis or support to grow around and through to be upright. Keep cutting the exquisitely scented flowers to bring in the house - Heaven-on-a-stem! The more you cut, the more they'll rebloom until it gets hot. Then they're finished (like stock and many other cool spring annuals).

Ladies and gentlemen, it's spring, dust off your trowels!