Fragrant Plants
Gardening for Fragrance – Here you will find wonderful plants that will perfume your garden.Â
Pick fragrant flowers in the early morning or late afternoon – the volatile oils that carry the scent are evaporated by the sun. For the most intense experience of a flower’s fragrance, lean close and breathe lightly into it before inhaling. The heat and rush of air releases the fragrant oils. Fragrances seem to lose their scent after a few moments, but the flower hasn’t run out of perfume – rather, your olfactory system is saturated and you are numbed by the smell.
Don’t use chemical sprays on fragrant flowers in bloom – it can affect the scent.
FILTER THE ITEMS ON THIS PAGE BY:
Plant Type
Genus
Common Name
Light Requirements
Bloom Color
Bloom Time
Height
Uses
Resistances
Type
Genus
Common Name
Light Requirement
Flower Color
Bloom Time
Height
Uses
Resistance
Buddleia – Little Rockstars Red Butterfly Bush
At 1' tall, it is the shortest Butterfly Bush we know of.
Buddleia – Prince Charming Butterfly Bush
A flower color rarely seen.
Caryopteris – Gold Crest Bluebeard
Sapphire-blue flowers over vibrant gold foliage.
Dianthus – Everlast Orchid Carnation
Spicy clove-like perfume and endless blossoms, perennial.
Dianthus – Vivid Cherry Charms Border Carnation
4" tall, 20"wide evergreen perennial with nonstop clove-scented blossoms.
Echinacea purpurea – Purple Coneflower
Gorgeous Missouri native perennial for natural and formal settings.
Lilium – Friso Tree Lily
Jumbo 8" intensely fragrant blossoms on tall 4-6' stems.
Lonicera sempervirens – Coral Honeysuckle
Easy to grow Missouri native vine.
Monarda bradburiana – Bee Balm
Important Missouri native pollinator plant.
Monarda fistulosa – Wild Bergamot
An important Missouri and Illinois native pollinator food source.
Nepeta – Cat’s Pajamas Catmint
A purr-fect perennial it brings loads of dark indigo blue flowers.
Oenothera macrocarpa – Missouri Evening Primrose
Top Missouri native perennial highly recommended.
Phlox paniculata – Gzhel Russian Lady Garden Phlox
From Russia comes unusual petals, one half blue, the other half white, perennial.
Phlox paniculata – Peppermint Twist Garden Phlox
Super fun two-colored blossoms on hardy sun perennial.
Phlox paniculata – Sherbet Blend Garden Phlox
Unique colors on a flamboyant plant, hardy perennial.
Phlox paniculata – Stars and Stripes Garden Phlox
Pink blossoms with radiant star-spangled red centers, hardy perennial.
Pycnanthemum muticum – Blunt Mountain Mint
Top choice to attract butterflies and more, multiple award winner. Missouri Botanical Garden Plant of Merit, Perennial Plant Association 2025 Perennial of the Year.
Pycnanthemum tenuifolium – Slender Mountain Mint
2020 Native of the Year.
Salvia – Blue By You Meadow Sage
2024 Perennial Of The Year, a vast improvement over old varieties.
Salvia – Color Spires Crystal Blue Sage
Crystal blue flowers unlike any other.
Salvia – Rose Marvel Meadow Sage
Largest flowers in its class, perennial.
Verbena canadensis – Rose Verbena
2023 Native of the Year. Profuse blooming Missouri native perennial.
Weigela – Snippet Dark Pink
Repeat blooming, petite shrub.
Asclepias verticillata – Whorled Milkweed
Important food source for Monarch butterflies.
Clethra Ruby Spice – Summersweet
Award-winning fragrant pink flowers.
Echinacea pallida – Pale Purple Coneflower
Missouri Botanical Gardens Plant of Merit Winner.
Magnolia Bracken’s Brown Beauty Southern Magnolia
Gorgeous tree with glossy evergreen foliage and showy flowers.
Magnolia Yellow Bird
Lemon-yellow blossoms burst forth in spring.
Phlox paniculata – Garden Phlox
Missouri native with fragrant flowers for months.
Styrax – Evening Light Japanese Snowbell
Fragrant white flowers on glossy black foliage. Stunning.