Savoring Scents in Tropical Oasis: Enhancing Hawaiian Gardens with Captivating Fragrances
Hawaiian gardeners are keeping the spirit of Lei Day alive all year round, and spring in Hawaii is a constant celebration of blooming flowers. With Mother's Day just around the corner on May 11, it's the perfect time to find some beautiful and fragrant plants as gifts for the special ladies in your life!
The sweet, heavy fragrance of Hawaii's air is something visitors and residents always notice upon returning from a trip. Now, with plumeria, jasmine, and other flowers beginning their bloom, the scent is at its peak. Hopefully, you'll catch a whiff of exotic fragrances like ylang ylang, mulang, lemon-scented magnolia, and many other flowering trees as you explore the islands.
Hawaii has a unique magic to it. The scents of flowers fill the air and create a romantic, tropical atmosphere, no matter if you live mauka or makai. By adding more flowering plants to your surroundings, you can combat unpleasant smells like car exhaust fumes or rubbish cans. There are plenty of great choices for your garden, such as the scent of orange blossoms, grapefruit, lime, lemon, and tangerine blossoms. In the summer, certain species of ginger are in full bloom, and fragrant angel trumpets create beautiful settings for garden romance.
But there are numerous less-known flowering plants that can add diversity to your garden. Some plants, like plumeria, night-blooming jasmine, fragrant dracaena, gardenia, and mock orange, produce potent fragrances that can fill every inch of the garden air and even drift inside your home. Others, like the spider lily, create subtle scents that are best appreciated up close. You can find dozens of species of ginger, native alahe'e, and Hoawa at some nurseries.
There are many kinds of jasmine, as well as several plants named jasmine but aren't actually jasmines. For instance, star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides) is a vine that climbs up posts, fences, or supports, and you can pinch out the viney branch tips to cover the ground. Mock orange (orange jasmine, Murraya paniculata) is an attractive evergreen shrub or small tree in the citrus family with white, very fragrant flowers and clusters of red ovoid fruit. It is a vigorous grower and can be used as a small tree, high hedge, or screen.
The ever-popular plumeria should be part of every garden, but a close relative called Tabernaemontana or cinnamon gardenia is less common. It was originally introduced from Africa and offers cinnamon-scented flowers that delicately perfume the entire garden. Close relatives include Ervatamia (crepe jasmine), cerbera, stemmadenia, and oleander.
Stop by your local garden shops and nurseries to find these and many more fragrant plants for your garden. "Sunset's New Western Garden Book" is a great reference book to help you choose plants and learn about their care.
Norman Bezona is professor emeritus at the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources.
- Hawaiian gardeners, in the spirit ofLei Day, are cultivating a variety of fragrant plants such as plumeria, gardenia, and mock orange, adding tropical scents to gardens mauka and makai year-round.
- The fashion-and-beauty sector might overlook the potential of Hawaiian shrubs like mock orange and cinnamon gardenia (Tabernaemontana), with their scent drifting into homes, offering a unique fragrance addition to lifestyle products.
- Home-and-garden enthusiasts can explore diverse garden options, from the intense fragrance of plumeria and star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides) to the subtle scents of spider lilies and Hoawa, commonly found at nurseries.
- Some less-known plants like ervatamia (crepe jasmine), cerbera, stemmadenia, and oleander, if registered and nurtured, can contribute as beautiful, lesser-known alternatives in the gardening scene, filling intervals of interest in home and garden design.
