🌸 Choosing well
🌿 Balcony and home
🌿 In brief
For a fragrant balcony, opt for climbers: star jasmine and honeysuckle fill the air with fragrance all summer, while Armand's clematis starts the season as early as March. Lavender and rose bushes complement them in the sun, while rosemary and bay scent the air all year when touched. Indoors, calamondin is a safe bet, with flowers scented like orange blossom.
You look at a plant. You experience a fragrant plant: it's the one you notice when you open the French door on a June evening, the one that transforms a city balcony into a garden corner. But first, you need to choose the right species, place them in the right spot, and stagger them so that the fragrance is not limited to three weeks a year. Here's how, along with our selection, family by family.
Making the most of fragrance
A poorly placed fragrant plant goes unnoticed. Three simple adjustments make all the difference between a subtle fragrance and a balcony filled with scent.
As close as possible to where you pass
Place the most fragrant plants near the French door, a frequently opened window, or the spot where you sit. Fragrance is best enjoyed from one or two metres away, not from the back of the balcony.
Sheltered from the wind
A sheltered spot holds the fragrance, while a corner exposed to the wind disperses it immediately. Against a sunny wall, the accumulated heat makes it even more intense in the evening.
The right time of day
Many fragrant flowers, such as honeysuckle and star jasmine, release most of their fragrance at the end of the day, when their nocturnal pollinators are active. It's aperitif time on the balcony.
Sun also matters: with a few exceptions, the most fragrant plants are plants for full sun or bright partial shade. Our guide to balcony plants by exposure helps you assess yours before choosing.
Scented climbers
These are the plants that scent a balcony the most, because they grow upward and place their flowers at nose height. Three families share the season.
Star jasmine
The number-one choice: evergreen foliage, spectacular blooms in June-July, and a sweet fragrance that carries far. They are easy to train on a trellis or railing.
The classic star jasmine: hundreds of small white flowers with a sweet fragrance on dark green evergreen foliage. A firm favourite for balconies.
View the white jasmine →
The same scented stars, in soft pink. A rarer variety that adds colour without sacrificing any fragrance.
View the pink jasmine →
Cream flowers with yellow centres and an equally generous fragrance. Perfect for warming up a light-coloured wall.
View the yellow jasmine →Honeysuckles
The quintessential evening fragrance. By combining several varieties, you can enjoy flowers from May through late summer.
White flowers that turn yellow, highly fragrant in the evening, from June until the first cool weather. Vigorous and almost evergreen.
View Halliana →
Purple and cream flowers with a classic honeysuckle fragrance, from late spring, often followed by a second wave in late summer.
View Belgica →
Belgica's summer follow-up: it flowers from July to September, extending the fragrance until the new school year begins.
View Serotina →Scented clematis
They open the scented season at the very start of spring, when the rest of the balcony is still asleep.
An evergreen clematis covered in almond-scented white flowers from March, when almost nothing else is in bloom.
View the white clematis →
The pale pink version of Armand's clematis, just as fragrant, for a gentle start to spring.
View Apple Blossom →
A vigorous mountain clematis with pale pink flowers and a vanilla fragrance in May. It quickly covers a trellis or railing.
See the Fragrant Spring →All these climbers need support from planting. Our article on supporting and training climbing plants explains how to guide them without damaging the stems.
Fragrant flowers and citrus trees
Alongside climbing plants, a few potted plants provide a more occasional fragrance, at table or railing height. Citrus trees have a major advantage: they spend winter indoors and scent the house too.
True lavender, compact, with highly fragrant dark purple flower spikes. Full sun and dry substrate: a must-have for balconies in the South.
See the lavender →
A compact climbing rose with fragrant cream flowers that blooms again in waves from late spring to autumn.
See the rose →
Small white flowers with the fragrance of orange blossoms, followed by decorative fruit. The easiest to grow indoors in this selection.
See the Calamondin →
A real lemon tree in a pot, whose flowers fill the air with fragrance in spring. Outdoors in summer, protected from frost in winter, in a bright room.
See the lemon tree →Citrus trees are the only plants in this selection that truly scent an interior: placed in front of a well-exposed window, they flower in waves. For other flowering houseplants, our guide to flowering plants all year round completes this list.
Aromatic foliage
Their fragrance doesn't depend on flowering: it is released at the slightest brush, all year round. Placed along a passageway, they scent the balcony whenever they are brushed against, and come in handy in the kitchen too.
A rosemary plant trained into a small tree, whose foliage releases its fragrance at the slightest touch. Useful in cooking and decorative all year round.
See the rosemary →
A trailing variety trained on a standard: a cascade of fragrant branches covered with small blue flowers in spring.
See the trailing rosemary →
Bay laurel, with evergreen aromatic foliage. Compact as a shrub, it is easy to prune and harvest from all year round.
See the bay laurel →
The same bay laurel trained on a standard, in a ball shape: a structured silhouette to frame a French door.
See the standard bay laurel →For more information on growing herbs and citrus trees indoors, our urban vegetable garden guide details the species that thrive in pots.
Fragrance from March to October
The secret to a balcony that is always fragrant is staggered blooming. By choosing three or four plants whose blooms follow one another, you can enjoy fragrance for more than six months.
| Period | What provides fragrance |
|---|---|
| March-April | Armand clematis and 'Apple Blossom', flowering rosemary |
| May | 'Fragrant Spring' clematis, 'Belgica' honeysuckle, citrus flowers |
| June-July | Star jasmines, 'Halliana' honeysuckle, lavender, rose |
| August-September | 'Serotina' and 'Halliana' honeysuckles, repeat blooms from the rose |
| All year round | Rosemary and bay laurel, to the touch |
🌿 The simplest trio
An Armand clematis for spring, a star jasmine for summer, a 'Serotina' honeysuckle for the end of the season: three climbing plants on the same trellis, and fragrance from March to September.
Care in pots
A stressed fragrant plant blooms little, and a plant that blooms little smells of nothing. A few basic rules are enough to maintain abundant blooms.
- A large enough pot for climbing plants: at least 30 to 40 cm in diameter after the first year, otherwise flowering loses its vigor.
- Regular watering in summer: in a pot, a climbing plant in full sun may need the water every day in hot weather.
- Fertilize with a flowering-plant fertilizer in spring, then stop at the end of summer to let the wood harden before winter.
- Light pruning just after flowering, never before: you would cut off the following year's buds.
- Protect the roots in winter in cold regions: in a pot, they freeze well before the foliage.
Citrus trees are the exception: they do not tolerate frost and must spend the winter indoors, in front of a bright window, in a room that is preferably somewhat cool. All the other plants in this selection are suited to balconies, and our guide to full-sun balcony plants will help you arrange them around it.
Verdeia — Balconies and terraces
A balcony that smells wonderful all summer
Star jasmines, honeysuckles, clematis, lavender and citrus trees: discover all our balcony plants, delivered in perfect condition.
Frequently asked questions
Star jasmine and Japanese honeysuckle 'Halliana' are the two most fragrant. Jasmine has the advantage of evergreen foliage all year round.
Citrus Calamondin: its orange-scented flowers open in waves in front of a bright window. The other plants in this selection prefer the outdoors.
It tolerates around -10 °C once established. In a pot, the roots are more exposed: protect the pot in regions with harsh winters.
Because it is pollinated by moths: it releases most of its fragrance at the end of the day, when they are active.
Near the French window or the spot where you sit, sheltered from the wind. Against a sunny wall, the warmth intensifies the fragrance in the evening.
Well accompanied
Create a fragrant corner
Pots, planters and decorative pots for placing your fragrant plants where you can enjoy them most.
