Small Space Fragrance Garden Ideas

Improve your yard with beautiful sights and smells! We've gathered a host of ideas perfect for small-space gardens that add colorful blooms and sweet scents to the air.

By Justin Hancock

Pick a Color Family

If putting colors together seems challenging, one way to simplify is to select one color and choose different shades of it. We did that with this fragrance garden. We started with purple -- tall nicotiana offers a rich, velvety purple hue along with its rich fragrance. Dianthus shares its spicy, clove-like fragrance from balls of purple-red flowers (that are great for cutting in bouquets, too!) and makes an elegant partner for the nicotiana. A low snapdragon brightens the planting with its purple-and-white flowers.

What's Inside

Dianthus Sweet Black Cherry
Nicotiana Perfume Deep Rose
Snapdragon (Antirrhinum Snapshot Plumblossom)

Mix and Match Varieties

Make garden design easy by mixing and matching different varieties of one flower. We did that here with dianthus -- three h2ly scented varieties mix to provide plenty of color, texture, and fragrance!

What's Inside

Dianthus Dash Violet
Dianthus Dash White
Dianthus Sweet White Bicolor

Enjoy Soft Textures

Many people overlook texture when they're designing gardens. But it's easy to use texture to help give your garden depth and dimension. We did that here by selecting varieties that have a soft look: sweet alyssum and agastache.

Sweet alyssum offers frothy flowers that look like baby's breath. They're h2ly scented and have a sweet, almost heavy scent. Agastache is a heat- and drought-tolerant plant that's irresistible to hummingbirds. In addition to fine spikes of fragrant flowers, the leaves also bear a lovely perfume.

What's Inside

Agastache Dwarf Pink
Sweet alyssum (Lobularia Frosty Knight)
Petunia Potunia Plus Hot Pink

Plant Bold Color

Dianthus offers bold spring color and rich fragrance. Especially pronounced on warm afternoons, dianthus bears a spicy fragrance that's the perfect remedy after a long winter. It has a long bloom season, too -- especially if you remove the flowers as they fade.

We paired it with sweet alyssum, a low-growing plant that's absolutely covered in white flowers from spring to fall. Its fragrance is softer and more floral, making a wonderful olfactory pairing with dianthus.

What's Inside

Dianthus Diabunda Purple
Sweet alyssum (Lobularia Snow Princess)

Stars and Snaps

Pink nicotiana creates a bold effect in any planting. It graces the garden with large, almost cabbage-like leaves that a spire of star-shaped flowers erupts out from. Many are delightfully fragrant, too, especially at night.

We paired it with white dianthus for a crisp, clean contrast in flower shape, size, and color. Dianthus offers a clove-like fragrance and round clusters of flowers that look similar to mini hydrangeas. We planted a low-growing variety of snapdragon to add another burst of color and texture. Its hot pink blooms help tie everything together (as does its sweet fragrance!).

What's Inside

Dianthus Dash White
Nicotiana Perfume NIC429
Snapdragon (Antirrhinum Snapshot Rose)

Go with the Classics

You can't go wrong with heliotrope if you have a sunny spot and want to fill your garden with a wonderful scent. One of our all-time favorites for fragrance, heliotrope offers a rich vanilla perfume (that some people say smells like fresh cherry pie). It's great to look at, too, bearing clusters of dark purple flowers.

We paired it with lavender, another sure bet for fragrance gardens. Bearing silvery-green leaves and spikes of softly scented purple flowers, lavender is a welcome addition to any garden. A carpet of white alyssum finishes the look. Like the others, alyssum has a great scent and big flower power.