Follow Your Nose: A Fragrant Tour of Butterfly Pavilion’s Gardens

By Amy Yarger, Horticulture Director at Butterfly Pavilion

One of the best feelings is to venture out in the morning after rain and breathe in the fresh, moist air. In Butterfly Pavilion’s outdoor gardens, there’s not only the fragrance of moist leaves and soil this time of year, but a multitude of blooming plants competing for attention. Late spring and early summer feature some of our most perfumed plants in our outdoor gardens, so this is a great time to enjoy them.

The sweet honey smell of alyssum or the sophisticated aroma of an heirloom rose is actually a complex chemical signal plants send their pollinators, promising rewards and enticing them to carry pollen from one flower to another. As pleasant as some of these messages are to our noses, we must remember that plants adapt to their specific pollinating “cupids”. Fly-pollinated plants may come off as rather funky (or at least that’s the nice way to put it), while moth-pollinated plants put forth their fragrance during the evening. There’s something for everyone in the flower fragrance world!

Our blooms at Butterfly Pavilion are about two to three weeks later than usual, so we still are enjoying some of the late spring fragrances, as well those of early summer. Here are some to keep your eye (or your nose) on right now:

Showy milkweed (Asclepias speciosa) – Many people don’t realize that this native monarch host plant has a delicious, almost vanilla-like scent. Large stands of this plant will perfume the air all around them.

Chocolate flower (Berlandiera lyrata) – If you close your eyes and sniff, you may get notes of cocoa powder, nuts, vanilla and/or honey from this southwestern wildflower. I find that people always say it smells like chocolate… when you tell them the name ahead of time.

Silver fountain butterfly bush (Buddleia alternifolia) – Unlike Buddleia davidii, B. alternifolia is a “one and done” bloomer, but it goes gangbusters when it does, filling the air with a sugary fragrance. Swallowtail butterflies invariably find it and make it part of their daily route.

‘Ruby Voodoo’ Rose (Rosa ‘Ruby Voodoo’) – Many popular roses have been bred for specific colors or longer-lasting blooms, reducing that intoxicating rose fragrance. This PlantSelect selection has vivid dark pink petals, but the true magic is the aroma, which combines sweetness with almost a wine-y tang.

Mock orange (Philadephus lewisii) – This native shrub can thrive in Colorado’s unpredictable climate and still be as sweet and fresh as a bridal bouquet every May-June.