Often, houseplants are chosen for their visual beauty in the form of leafy green foliage plants or colorful blooms. However, many scented plants thrive indoors, serving as natural air fresheners that fill the air with a variety of distinctive aromas. Start by experimenting with one scented plant per room. While some plants provide just the barest hint of aroma, others have sweet perfume that may become overpowering when combined with other scents.These types of plants grow in many different forms including annuals, perennials, shrubs and vines.
- Arabian Jasmine (Jasminum sambac)
- Sweet Bay (Laurus nobilis)
- Gardenia (Gardenia jasminoides)
- Stephanotis (Stephanotis floribunda)
- Orange Jessamine (Murraya paniculata)
- Corsage Orchid (cattleya orchid)
- Angel’s Trumpet ((Brugmansia ssp)
- Scented Geraniums (Pelargonium spp.)
- Lavender (Lavendula spp.)
- Little citrus tree
- Paperwhites (Narcissus tazetta)
- Spearmint (Mentha spicata)
- Plumeria (Plumeria ssp)
- Sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum)
- Tea olive tree (Sweet osmanthus)
- Night-Blooming Jasmine (Cestrum nocturnum)
- Corsican Mint (Mentha requienii)
- English rose (David Austin rose)
- Sweet almond verbena
- Ponderosa pine
Arabian Jasmine
Arabian jasmine is famous for its fragrant flowers and its use in jasmine tea and leis. It is a fast-growing evergreen climbing shrub. Glossy, dark green oval leaves create a beautiful contrast to the highly fragrant, white flowers that fade to pink as they age. These beautiful-smelling blooms appear all summer long and may continue to bloom year-round in warm climates.
Sweet Bay
Bay laurel also called sweet bay, provides a stately focus in gardens and in containers outdoors and indoors. It is an evergreen that blooms with clusters of yellow flowers in spring followed by dark purplish-black fruits. Growing bay laurel adds beauty and function to your indoor spaces and its leaves can be used in a variety of recipes.
Gardenia
Gardenias are one of the most enticing tropical, flowering houseplants with glossy green foliage, compact, shrubby habit, and irresistible, waxy-white flowers.Sometimes growing as tall as 5 feet, though it has a reputation as a difficult bush to grow, with little care the shrub will thrive effortlessly in both indoor and outdoor settings. Whether grown indoors or outdoors, gardenia is generally loaded with legendary fragrance and appealing appearance.
Stephanotis
Stephanotis, also known as Madagascar jasmine or bridal bouquet is a vine valued for its clusters of funnel-shaped, intensely fragrant white blossoms and attractive, leathery foliage. The vines reach up to 15 feet in length, and they often grow on supporting trellises in a pot or hanging basket. It can flourish for years when grown indoors on a sunny windowsill.
Orange Jessamine
This lovely plant is a compact evergreen shrub with oval, shiny, deep green leaves. At maturity, which can take three to four years, it can grown to 8 to 12 feet tall and wide, creating a large, round shrub.Clusters of small, fragrant flowers bloom in spring, followed by bright reddish-orange berries in summer. The flowers are very fragrant and smell like orange blossoms, and flowering will occur year-round.
Corsage Orchid
Cattleya Orchid also referred to as Corsage orchid is one of the most popular kind of orchids, especially as cut flowers, as it comes with variety of colors and lasts for quite a long time.The corsage orchid has the largest flowers of up to 5 inches across. They also come in all colors and will make your home not only look more alive, but thanks to its strong fragrance it will make it smell wonderful.
Angel’s Trumpet
The optimum size for angel trumpet plants is around 4-6 feet. The dangling, trumpet-shaped flowers bloom in shades of peach, yellow, white and red, and can reach lengths of 20 inches, depending on the cultivar. Although angel trumpet flowers are warm-climate plants, they are striking in containers especially when grown indoors. When in bloom, they fill the entire room with an appealling smell.
Scented Geraniums
Grown for their uniquely scented and often ornamental leaves, Scented Geraniums are fast growing and highly tolerant of variable soils and conditions. When used in containers with other flowering plants, the leaves add texture as well as fragrance. Plants can range from low-growing foot-tall specimens to bushy three-feet-tall versions, and they can spread from a foot wide up to eight feet or more. Blossoms can be tiny and plain to large, vibrant, and multi-colored. Some have small or deeply-lobed leaves, while others have large, round leaves.
Lavender
Lavender is fragrant perennial plant with gray-green foliage, upright flower spikes, and a compact shrub form. The plant produces fragrant, lilac or blue flowers on shoots. Lavender may also be referred to as true lavender, medical lavender, smelling lavender, thin-leaved lavender or English lavender. Although lavender can tolerate a variety of growing conditions, this plant thrives best under warm, sunny conditions in well-drained soil.
Dwarf citrus
Dwarf citrus tree is suitable for planting indoors or outdoors in the ground or in containers. Their miniature size makes them ideal for small garden spaces, balconies and patios. Easy to maintain, they produce lush evergreen leaves and fragrant blossoms that fruit more quickly than their full-sized counterparts.When planted in the ground, dwarf citrus grows anywhere from 8 to 12 feet tall, and if they’re planted into a large container they’ll remain much smaller.
Paperwhites
Paperwhites are a delicate, white flower in the daffodil family. Their fragrant blooms are easy to grow indoors, because they don’t need any soil or fertilizer, all the nutrients the plants need are in the bulbs. Put them in a container with gravel, pebbles or colored glass, add water occasionally, and enjoy flowers in four to six weeks.
Garden mint
Spearmint, also known as garden mint, common mint, resembles peppermint, though spearmint plants have bright green leaves that are pointed, and lavender flower spikes that grow up to 4 inches long. When planted in ideal conditions, spearmint will reach a mature height and width of 12 to 24 inches. Growing spearmint plants in the indoor setting is a rewarding and useful experience especially from its strongly aromatic leaves.
Sweet Basil
Sweet Basil is a tender annual, aromatic plant with a spicy odor and flavor. It grows 12-18 inches tall and foliage color can range from green to purple. Foliage size can vary from large lettuce-like leaves to very small leaves, half inch in size. Probably the most common reason for planting any of the sweet basils is culinary. Their spicy leaves taste great in pasta sauces, pesto, vegetable dishes and even baked goods and desserts.
Plumeria
Commonly called melia, temple tree and frangipani, the Plumeria genus has approximately seven different species and a wide variety of cultivars. Plumeria trees vary in appearance depending on the species or cultivar. Even with a range of colors and slightly differing flower styles, the various types share some characteristics that make plumeria uniquely identifiable, once you know what to look for. Most varieties emit a wonderful scent from broad blossoms of yellow, white, orange, red, pink or salmon, frequently in combinations of colors.
Tea olives
Tea olives, also known as sweet olive, sweet osmanthus, and fragrant olive grow as dense, evergreen shrubs or small trees. They have glossy evergreen leaves and produce clusters of small white flowers that are well-loved for their heady floral perfume. Their scent makes them ideal for planting near windows and outdoor living areas where the fall blooming flowers can be readily enjoyed.
Night blooming Jasmine
Night blooming jasmine, as the name implies, produces small tubular flowers that emerge at night and have five lobes. This is a tropical evergreen in the nightshade family that grows often in the wild. Known for its glossy green leaves and the heady fragrance of its small white flowers, night-blooming jasmine is best grown near a patio or window where you can enjoy its scent on summer evenings.
Corsican Mint
Corsican mint is a low, spreading ground-cover that only reaches about 1 inch high and 6 inches across. Its small bright green leaves cluster together to make a moss-like carpet, and tiny round flowers appear in the early summer months. This mint can tolerate low light indoor setting, filling the air with a peppermint-like scent.
Conclusion
Many gardeners are primarily concerned with making their home landscapes or indoor house settings look visually appealing. While growing beautiful plants can be a joy in itself, combining visual appeal with a provocative scent adds another layer of enjoyment. Using vanilla, mint or any other scented plants can give indoor spaces a touch of magic, because sweet fragrance can remind people of childhood summers, hand-cranked ice cream and the comfort of home.