If you yearn for more fragrance in your garden, here are some suggestions for ornamental sweetshrubs that you could plant this fall.
Calycanthus ‘Aphrodite' is a re-blooming sweetshrub that grows 5-6 feet high and as wide. It has bright pinky-red magnolia-type flowers in summer and early fall and glossy green foliage in zones 5 to 9.
Calycanthus ‘Venus' produces fragrant white flowers with yellow and purple markings and foliage that is glossy green but turns golden in autumn.
Clethra alnifolia is a summersweet shrub with a compact and mounded shape, and it produces 4- to 6-inch white flower spikes in summer and has golden fall foliage.
There are other Clethra varieties with lovely names, as well as fragrances too. How about Sugartina® ‘Crystallina'? It's the name of a small summersweet that grows only 2-3 feet tall. It's a native and a magnet for butterflies.
Another possibility is Vanilla Spice®, which has large white flowers and an intoxicating midsummer fragrance.
And how about a sweet-smelling lilac? There's one called ‘Tiny Dancer'™, which grows 4-5 feet high with exceptional heat tolerance and romantic old-fashioned blossoms.
