Still, the best smelling thing in my garden is this. I've been told that it is a sweet almond bush. Doesn't matter what it is, it smells like heaven. I have to go out and get my daily fix while it's in bloom.

How about you?

When one of the Tilia americana blooms it perfumes the entire back yard. This species doesn't flower heavily every year but the smaller tree is setting up for nice bloom in the next week or two.

I have many fragrant plants but these two are probably the most intense.

And then there is...., and ....and, and, Nice to think about all the wonderful scents that will soon be filling the air.

My favorite spring scent is hyacinth, and I so look forward every summer to the Oriental lily blooms - if Heaven has a scent, it must be lily blooms. Also love heliotrope.

HAHA I thought I was nuts when I first caught the scent of my iris - no way could they smell like grapes I thought...but yes they really do! (they are the variegated iris).

The best smell though is Gardenia. I grow them just for the fragrance.

My other all summer perennial fragrant bloomer is a Clematis triternata Rubromarginata. Blooms June through August.

In between these fragrance I rely on my Oriental Lilies for my summer fragrant fix.

I always plant night scented stock close to the house; some years they self-seed.

Because of our cool weather strong perfumes in the garden are fleeting and all the more welcome for that. On my walk to work I get whiffs of Viburnum (bodnantense in winter, carlesii in spring), Wisteria, Eleagnus, roses and Mahonia (in Winter). I enjoy them all and they enliven a Monday morning. I am waiting for the honeysuckle to open just as the Clematis montana finishes. Lime trees will come later in the year and I always love those too. And what about daffodils? Very evocative but you have to kneel down to get your nose into them. And the little wafts from balsam poplars which send me wandering around looking for the tree.

Right now, doubt anything can compete with Gardenia and Jasmine. But later, moonflower vine is worth a mosquito bite to go out in the dark to sniff. Earlier, a very small Osmanthus fragrans shrub was wafting scent throughout the yard.

And, dare I say it, I love the smell of wild privet. We have banks of it here and it's wonderful.
I like wafting scents, not just stick-your-nose-in-it-and-it-smells good.

I'm not sure what my bush is. A landscaper called it a sweet almond bush, but now googling that doesnt show me familiar pictures.

It dies back in the winter though. It only gets about two feet high, flowers briefly and then stays green all summer, just to die back in the fall.

Thoughts? Could it still be a mock orange?

And speaking of apples, I love the mild perfume in the air when the apple trees are in bloom.

Edit: opps mi spelling

My large Yellowwood tree (Cladrastis kentukea) is in peak bloom right now, and although it's not as fragrant as the Tilia (linden), it is scenting the yard and there are so many bumblebees on the flowers that the tree is buzzing!

The peonies are also in full bloom right now, and I'm cutting fragrant varieties like Duchess de Nemours, Bowl of Beauty, and Festiva Maxima and keep 2 large vases full of peonies in the house.

Miss Kim Lilac is also in bloom, however her display is meager this year for some reason (dry Spring?) and she is not as fragrant as usual.

Geranium Biocovo foliage has a strong scent, reminiscent of pine. I love it, my dh says it stinks!

first it was the clove scented alpine current..

then the mohawk viburnum ...

then the lilac went insane this year... having been frozen out last year ...

then an early daphne was to die for.. though not many blooms ...

and now the mock orange are coming on ...

i dont know how you would pick one.. as the best ...

wonder if i left anything out .... ah.. maybe the first lawn mow.. of my meadow lawn ... after a long cold winter.. there is just something about cut grass and weeds.. lol ...

ken

You winter babies have me sold that I have to go in search of this plant. Thank you.

I took a few wiffs and looked around and realized it was a lilac bush about 20 feet away. DH shrugs and says, "smells like dryer sheets." Yeah, he really is the sentimental type. ;)

But the next day I went for a bike ride with a friend and we rode through entire corridors of lilacs, just breathing in the entire way - delightful!

To the OP, yes, that definitely looks like mock orange, which I just love. I added another one to my little clutch of them so this year's fragrance should be amped up all the more. Can't wait!

Um. so my Mahonia is first (oregon grape) and it really wafts. then the lilacs and Korean spice bush, then the Mock Orange. I have some very fragrant roses that can waft (crysler imperial, souvenir de la malmaison)
But the real winner of the smell contest though is the Silver Lindens at the Park 4 blocks north of me. I can smell them from my yard and it's a heady sweet smell.

I wish I could grow is Brugmansia (angels trumpet) When I lived in CA, it would wake me at night wafting it's fragrance into my room. I would take the flashlight out and go see it in the middle of the night. Such a beautiful scent and so fleeting. (Whereas the Jasmine reeks for weeks!)

Is "Zootown" Missoula? Anyway I'm in Bozeman. Probably similar in terms of lilacs though!

but come august.. the hosta species plantaginea... with its 6 inch trumpet flowers is sublime ... as well as many of its progeny.. like royal standard... etc ...

also.. here in the great white north.. august is time for many things that self seeded... to finally peak .. and a large area of 4 o'clocks.. can fragrance the whole yard ....

and then in fall... the fragrant autumn clematis ...

and then its winter.. and its all over ...

my point.. if you missed it.. is that there is NOT one 'best' ...

you need to plant for fragrance.. in waves.... so they bloom... one after another.. always with something coming.. something to anticipate ...

my theory.. for whats its worth ... is that the scent is a bee attractant... and by the heat of the summer.. bees are not as active.. most of their work done ... so things sorta peter out .... also.. a lot of the late summer things.. are night bloomers.. attracting the night pollinators... like moths ... [both the 4 o'clocks.. and the plantaginea]

ken