What is the sweet smell in Florida?

Most Fragrant Flowers to Grow in Your Florida Yard

One of the perks of living in Florida is that you can grow spectacular plants that can’t be grown in many other parts of the country. The state’s unique climate, featuring plenty of warmth and rainfall, makes it an ideal place to grow some of the most exotic, beautiful, and fragrant plants. Here are some of the most aromatic blooms you can grow in your Florida yard.

Gardenia

Florida gardeners love gardenias, and it’s easy to see why. These flowers thrive in the Florida sunshine, with lush flowers blooming from summer to fall. Gardenias are prize not only for their beautiful scent but also for their irresistible appearance. They feature snowy white blooms contrasting with glossy, dark green foliage.

Camellia

Camellias are friendly, fragrant flowers that come in shades of white and pink; red; blue; and even some combinations of colors. These ruffled flowers can grow around 4 inches across, and they feature a more delicate look than the gardenia. The camellia is treasured for its fragrance just as much as its beauty. They grow best in partial sunlight, and blooms can appear in early spring and even during the winter. It’s a great flower to grow if you’re looking to add some pops of color to your garden during the cooler months of the year.

Albuca

This unique-looking plant features tight, corkscrew-like leaves set on short stems, as well as a fragrant flower. Albuca blooms during the spring, and its aroma is best-compared to sweet, mellow vanilla. This plant likes full to partial sun and soil that offers plenty of drainage. It’s an easy plant to grow in a pot, both indoors and in your garden.

Jasmine

Well-known for its intoxicating smell, jasmine is one of the most fragrant plants you can grow in your Florida garden. These vines are perfect for adding life, color, and fragrance to trellis or pergolas on the sunny side of the house. They bloom from spring until fall, and some are ever-blooming, so you can enjoy their pleasant scent for months on end.

Passionflower

This delicate climbing flower produces incredible 4-to-6-inch blooms that are as fragrant as they are beautiful. The Passion Flower gets its name from its reproductive organs, which resemble a cross, and its aromatic blooms that pop during the spring and fall ripen into flavorful passion fruits you and your family can enjoy! They grow best on a strong pergola or trellis, in either full sun or partial shade.

A Perfect Garden Pairs Well with a Perfect Lawn

Florida’s hardiness zone is just right for growing some unique, fragrant plants. Remember that the perfect complement to a beautiful garden is a beautiful lawn. Need help getting your grass in great shape? Reach out to the lawn care experts at Evergreen Lawn and Pest Control – Apopka and look forward to a lush, green lawn in no time. Call us today at (407) 880-6655 for your free consultation!

The 10 Best Smelling Plants in South Florida

Plants can offer more than good looks and curb appeal—and flowers are more than eye candy for your South Florida property when you choose aromatic plants that smell great. You can literally enhance the sensory experience of your outdoor living space by selecting plants with fragrant blooms, leaves or bark. There is the subtle yet true cinnamon scent from the peeling bark of the aptly named Cinnamon Bark tree—and the floral perfume aroma from gardenia. Great smelling plants and trees add another layer of interest to your landscape that you can’t see, but you can experience.

So, what are some of the best smelling plants in South Florida to enhance your landscape ? Here are 10 you can include in your landscape.

Gardenia

The fragrant, white blossoms diffuse a characteristic floral scent into the landscapes. Gardenia is best suited in smaller beds or garden spaces—even large containers—where you can ensure nutrient-rich soil. Unfortunately, the sandy soils we have here in South Florida can make growing many great-smelling plants like Gardenia a challenge, because they need rich, healthy soils to thrive. (More on that below when we address maintenance.) So, plan on fertilizing regularly and treating for pests. Your reward for this TLC is an aromatic beauty.

Night-Blooming Jasmine

This evergreen shrub can grow up to 10 feet high and spreads about 6 feet wide. What’s interesting about this fragrant plant is that it blooms after dark, so it’s a great addition to your patio or poolside landscaping, where you can enjoy some evening, scented foliage. Just be sure to plant it in partial shade and fertilize it regularly. It, too, must have nutrient-rich soil to thrive.

Cinnamon Bark Tree

This tree loves South Florida’s hammock and the Keys. Its fragrant bark peels off, making the trunk texturally interesting and pleasant smelling. The cinnamon bark tree blooms with red cluster flowers, and the tree’s berries ripen to a red at the end of its branches. This isn’t the same cinnamon tree used to make the spice you use in your kitchen, but the bark’s scent carries that savory cinnamon smell.

Arabian Jasmine

Add a fragrant green wall to your landscape by planting Arabian Jasmine on a trellis, arbor or pergola. It has a glossy foliage and clusters of flowers in white, yellow or red.

Angel Wing Jasmine

This spreading shrub is an ideal ground cover because of its vine-like growth. It blooms large, fragrant pinwheel shaped flowers that are white with purple accents. While not all jasmine flowers are fragrant, you can count on the Angel Wing to bring a sweet smell to your South Florida property.

Confederate Jasmine

This plant is native to China and a fast-growing vine that will climb up trellises, arbors and other structures. (Be careful not to plant it too close to trees unless you want a trunk wrapped with its tendrils.) The flowers of Confederate Jasmine are small and white—but size says nothing about the fragrance this plant brings to the landscape. It is very aromatic and can create a sweet-smelling garden wall.

Almond Tree

This compact flowering shrub puts out spires of white blooms that are the length of your finger. When you get close to the tree, you can smell the sweet almond scent.

Allspice

This smaller tree will grow up to about 40 feet tall and produces large leaves that are up to 8 inches long—and responsible for the delicious allspice scent. The tree grows small white flowers that turn into a brownish berry, which can be picked and dried for use in cooking. Because the tree is slow-growing, it won’t outpace other plants in your landscape despite its size.

Bay Rum

Smaller than the allspice tree, and in the same family, the Bay Rum is similar in how its fragrance is held in aromatic leaves. Bay Rum’s essence has been used in men’s cologne. The tree produces small, white puffs of flowers that turn into oval-shaped black fruit.

Ylang Ylang Tree

If you know Chanel No. 5, you’ve smelled the fragrance of Ylang Ylang, a tree that’s native to China and grows well here in South Florida. This larger specimen can grow up to 50 feet tall and produces starburst like flowers. Its scent is known as an aphrodisiac, and oils from this tree are used to alleviate anxiety and lift the mood.

Maintaining Plants in South Florida

Each of these 10 fragrant plants can thrive in your South Florida landscape—if you commit to watering and feeding them. Because these aromatic species tend to come from tropical environments like the Caribbean, where the soil is nutrient-rich, they are accustomed to very fertile soil. However, here in South Florida, our sandy soils lack the nutrition that many of these sweet-smelling plants need to sustain themselves. This is why regular maintenance and care is critical: fertilization along with disease and pest prevention. We have planted all of these beautiful, aromatic plants on South Florida properties and they do well when properly maintained. Call us to find out more.

You can talk to one of our landscape professionals at 305-367-2005, or fill out this simple contact form and we’ll get in touch with you.

Night Blooming Jasmine

The cascading clusters of tiny tubular flowers are cream colored — not particularly showy but they pack a wallop of scent when they open at dusk.

The fragrance is present but much lighter during the daytime hours.

Though not a true jasmine, this plant’s strong fragrance is legend among fragrant plant lovers.

However, don’t overdo it — with this or any other sweet smelling plants. Some people find the smell overwhelming. Just one of these fragrant shrubs in a landscape is enough.

This plant does best in a sunny spot, with an informal look that works well in tropical or cottage-garden styles of landscaping — or it can soften the look of a more manicured yard.

It flowers on and off all year — more in warmer months — with small white berries appearing after the bloom cycle.

Note: The leaves, flowers and berries all contain toxins. avoid planting where pets (dogs are especially vulnerable) or young children might munch.

Plant specs

This is a fast grower that prefers full to part sun, though it will grow in partial shade (but flowers less).

Tropical by nature, these night blooming plants do best in Zone 10.

Though they’re evergreen, during a harsh winter they may drop leaves.

You can grow it in a container in Zone 9B to bring indoors during cold snaps. Some people have luck growing this shrub in the ground in Zone 9B, saying it dies back in winter but usually comes back in spring.

Keep this jasmine shrub trimmed to 3 or 4 feet tall, or let it get a bit larger if you prefer.

Plant care

Add top soil or organic peat humus to the hole when you plant. You can also add composted cow manure, which enriches the soil around the rootball, to the mix,

Trim lightly after a bloom cycle for shape. Do a hard pruning in fall (by mid-October) or spring (late March) to control the plant’s size.

A regular irrigation schedule — with time to let the plant dry out a bit between waterings — is ideal.

Fertilize 3 times a year — in spring, summer, and autumn — with a good quality granular fertilizer. You can also supplement feedings with periodic applications of bone meal and/or liquid fertilizer to promote heavier bloom.

Plant spacing

Place these shrubs 3 feet apart. Come away from the house 2-1/2 to 3 feet.

If you’re planting by a door, walk or patio, come out 3 feet or more to give the shrub room to fill out.

This plant can be grown in a large container, though it will eventually outgrow the pot.

Landscape uses for night blooming jasmine

• accent in a mixed bed
• single yard specimen
• backdrop for smaller plants
• between tall palms
• fragrance plant by patio, pool, lanai, porch, deck or walkway

A.K.A. (also known as): Night Jessamine, Night Blooming Jessamine, Lady of the Night, Queen of the Night

Print This Page

1. Home ›
2. Medium Height Shrubs ›
3. Night Blooming Jasmine