Jackie French | Perfumed plants that pack a real punch

Only a few blooms, though, have that generous gift of wafting their scent right across your garden and into the house.

There is something about the way that scents that arise from the natural world, ebbing and flowing and mingling, that is entirely different from any perfume humans can craft.

The following are perfumes with punch. Avoid them if you have perfume allergies. Otherwise, lift your face to the sky, inhale deeply, and enjoy every breath.

This is an insignificant shrub with almost unnoticeable blooms, until spring arrives and you suddenly meet their scent. I grow ours by our garden path and only remember it's there when the scent floats down onto the garden and up into the house. Plant your port wine magnolia in full sun or dappled shade where it doesn't matter if it's not flagrantly beautiful, but where the perfume will delight you. It does, however, make an excellent low or tall screening hedge, if you are handy with the clippers.

Gardenia growing is "iffy" in our climate, though if you find exactly the right spot and feed your gardenias well, they will be stunning, giving scent and bright white blooms all summer. The happiest pair of gardenias I've met locally live in a paved courtyard, growing in big pots filled with slightly acidic potting mix, under the summer shade of a crab apple tree.

Frangipani are happiest as subtropical plants, which means you need to be very determined to grow them here, but if you find the right place then they'll thrive. Look for a north-facing wall, a courtyard, a patio, a roof garden, or even the sunny edge of a veranda, any spot that gets limited frost and no cold winds. Make sure your frangipani gets at least six hours of direct sunlight a day - assuming the sun does shine this summer. Sadly, frangipani do grow slowly - and even more slowly in cool to temperate climates, and over-feeding will kill them, instead of speeding things up. In very chilly times it's best to move a potted frangipani indoors. Keep the soil almost dry till the weather warms.

A dear friend, now sadly lost to us, used to bring me buckets of these each Christmas - more buckets full than I have vases to put them in (Val never did things in halves). The scent was almost thick enough to float on - and vigorous enough to give a few subsequent visitors hay fever. Choose the most perfumed varieties you can find i.e. look for "strongly scented" on the label or catalogue. Oriental lilies love moist soil, "with their feet in the shade and heads in the sun", as old garden lore decrees. Feed at least twice a year or give slow-release fertiliser every spring. They are worth the fuss.

Our grass has just had its first spring mow. The scent is subtle but pervasive, and I woke up smiling. We let mints ramble through our grasses and other ground covers, and when mown, the world feels fresh and full of endless possibilities.

Scented plants shouldn't be limited to just your own garden. Adopt a space. Argue with the authorities till they let you plant it with rosemary, lavender and hybrid musk roses. The world needs every atom of happiness it can get - and a gardenia in full bloom, a bed of dianthus, or a climbing Papa Meiland rose spreading scent below it, can work magic. And don't just stick to one perfumed plant. The best of all scents is the unpredictable marriage of many, many fragrant plants. With good planning, the perfumes of spring will power their way through summer too.