Lance Carson
Flowers develop fragrance as a survival strategy to attract insects, birds, and even bats for pollination. Floral scents are a complex mixture of highly volatile compounds and essential oils. While some flowers have a naturally strong fragrance, others may need a little help to enhance their scent. One way to do this is by extracting the fragrant compounds from the flowers and making your own scented oil or perfume. This process involves crushing and bruising flower petals, adding oil, and then using a strainer to collect the scented oil. Alternatively, you can create a simple water-based perfume by soaking flower petals in water and then simmering the water until you're left with a floral-scented liquid.
How to Increase Fragrance in Flowers
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Scented plants to grow | Lavender, rosemary, scented geraniums, mints, basil, eucalyptus, roses, gardenia, petunias, magnolias, lilies, carnations, Royal Standard Hosta, Nicotiana or Flowering Tobacco, tuberose, lily of the valley, narcissus, honeysuckle, jasmine, violet, peony, phlox, daphne, lilac, mock ora, orange, grapefruit, bergamot |
| Extraction method | Pull petals off, crush and bruise them, place in a jar, cover with oil, and leave |
| DIY perfume | Wash petals, place in cheesecloth inside a bowl, pour water over, leave overnight, squeeze pouch to extract scented water, simmer, cool, and pour into a bottle |
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What You'll Learn
Choosing fragrant flowers for your garden
When choosing fragrant flowers for your garden, it's important to consider not only the aesthetic appeal but also the sensory experience of smell that these flowers will bring. Scent is a powerful trigger for memories and can add a whole new dimension to your garden. Here are some tips and suggestions to help you choose the right fragrant flowers:
Choose Flowers with Pleasurable Scents
Select flowers with aromas that appeal to you and your guests. Some popular choices include roses, gardenias, lilies, and lavender. These flowers have sweet and refreshing scents that can enhance your outdoor experience.
Consider the Intensity of Fragrance
While some flowers have subtle fragrances, others can be quite potent, like gardenias, which some people find too strong. Choose the intensity of fragrance that suits your preference and the layout of your garden.
Experiment with Different Combinations
Not all scents may appeal to you, so it's worth experimenting with different fragrant plants to find your favourite combinations. You can also stagger the releases of scent by planting flowers that bloom at different times, creating a succession of fragrances throughout the seasons.
Plant Flowers that Attract Pollinators
Flowers develop fragrances to attract pollinators like bees, butterflies, and birds. Choose flowers with scents and colours that appeal to these creatures, such as roses, which attract bees and butterflies with their sweet smell and vibrant colours.
Positioning and Placement
Position your fragrant flowers strategically to maximize their impact. Plant them near paths, patios, or open windows, or in containers that can be moved around. Consider planting them in large clumps for a stronger scent and avoid wide-open, windy areas where the fragrance may dissipate.
Popular Choices for Fragrant Flowers
Some popular choices for fragrant flowers include:
- Gardenias: Known for their strong, sweet fragrance, gardenias are tender plants that may need to be moved indoors during winter in cold climates.
- Paperwhite (Narcissus): This flower grows quickly and has a sweet but musky scent that can be divisive.
- Peonies: While not all peonies are fragrant, those that are have a pleasant, sweet fragrance and bloom for a couple of weeks in spring.
- Oriental Lilies: These lilies are powerfully fragrant and visually stunning. They can perfume an entire garden and make excellent cut flowers.
- Jasmine: A single jasmine plant can easily fill your yard with its strong, sweet fragrance.
- Heliotrope: Also known as "the cherry pie flower," heliotrope has a delightful cherry vanilla scent that will sweep you off your feet.
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Extracting flower-scented oil
The scent of flowers is one of the strongest human senses and is produced by a complex mixture of highly volatile compounds and essential oils. While cutting fresh flowers and bringing them inside can fill a room with fragrance, the scent fades quickly. However, you can preserve the fragrance of flowers by extracting their scent with oils.
To make your own flower-scented oil, you will need the following ingredients and items:
- Flowers (almost all flowers should provide a result, but some may be very faint)
- Olive oil or a related oil (such as corn oil or sesame oil)
- Measuring spoons/measuring cups
- A strainer
- A jar or airtight container
- A spoon
- A sunny windowsill
Firstly, pick your flowers. Blooms that are just beginning to open contain the most fragrance, so avoid flowers that are in full bloom. Then, remove the petals from the flowers. You can use your fingers or a pestle and mortar to crush and bruise them. Next, place the petals in a jar and add oil. Make sure to use enough oil to completely cover the petals. After 24 hours, shake the jar gently and strain the oil into another container. Discard the old petals and add new ones to the jar, covering them with the oil you've already used. Allow the petals to steep for another 24 hours. Repeat this process for three days or until the fragrance reaches your desired strength.
Finally, use a strainer to drain the flower petals and collect the oil in a container. Use a spoon to press down on the petals against the strainer to collect as much of the scented oil as possible. When you have collected your oil, remember not to ingest it and dispose of the samples in a general waste bin. You can use your flower-scented oil in potpourri or crafts, or even wear it as a perfume.
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Making DIY perfume with flowers
Making your own perfume from flowers is easier than you might think. It's a great way to eliminate potentially harmful chemicals found in synthetic fragrances and create a thoughtful, personalised gift.
Choosing your flowers
Firstly, choose the plants you would like to use for your custom fragrance. This can be anything from citrus blossoms and leaves, rose petals, mint, rosemary, honeysuckle, jasmine, violets, peonies, gardenias, or lavender. You can collect these from your garden, a health food store, or a farmer's market, but make sure they are organic as you will be spraying the perfume on your skin.
Extracting the fragrance
To extract the fragrance, you will need to use a strainer to drain the flower petals and collect the oil in a separate container. You can then use a spoon to press down on the petals against the strainer to collect as much of the scented oil as possible.
Alternatively, you can place a cheesecloth inside a bowl with the edges overlapping the bowl. Put the flowers into the cheesecloth-lined bowl and pour water over them, covering them. Leave the flowers to soak overnight. The next day, lift the pouch out of the bowl and gently squeeze the pouch over a small saucepan to extract the flower-scented water.
Combining scents
Floral scents are typically combined with base notes to create a perfume. Base notes are usually heavier, warmer scents such as vanilla, cedarwood, frankincense, or sandalwood. You can also add a top note or head note, which is the uplifting fragrance that first captures attention. This can be orange, grapefruit, or bergamot. Choose one or two scents from each category and combine them until you end up with a fragrance that you personally like.
Storing your perfume
Your homemade perfume will last for up to a month if stored in a cool, dark place. You can decorate your bottle, create a small label, or leave it as it is.
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How flowers use scent to attract pollinators
Flowers use scent, along with colour and shape, to attract pollinators. Floral scents are a complex mixture of highly volatile compounds and essential oils that flowers emit into the atmosphere. The structure, colour, and odour of a flower's scent are important in attracting pollinators. While flowers can be identical in colour or shape, no two floral scents are exactly the same due to the diversity of volatile compounds, relative abundances, and interactions.
Pollinators, such as bees, butterflies, moths, and bats, are responsible for assisting over 80% of the world's flowering plants to reproduce. They detect a flower's scent and follow the concentration gradient of the chemical producing the scent to the flower. Flowers that are ready for pollination have higher scent levels, making them more attractive to pollinators.
The scent of a flower also helps pollinators select particular flowers. For example, plant species pollinated by bees and flies have sweet scents, while those pollinated by beetles have strong musty, spicy, or fruity odours. Flowers that rely on scent to attract pollinators are generally drab in appearance, ranging from white to dark red-brown, and emit very strong scents that can be detected from a distance.
In addition to visual cues, floral scent plays a crucial role in ensuring that the "right" pollinators visit in the right way, allowing plants to successfully transfer their pollen. For instance, Nicotiana, or Flowering Tobacco, produces tall, graceful stems of starry flowers with a soft, sweet perfume that peaks at dusk on warm nights, attracting pollinators. Similarly, the beautiful flowers and spicy scent of Rhododendron prinophyllum are known to please pollinators.
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Increasing fragrance in flowers through breeding
Floral fragrance is an important characteristic of ornamental flowers, playing a significant role in attracting pollinators and avoiding pests. The fragrance of flowers is derived from volatile secondary metabolites produced in different parts of the floral organ. These metabolites, including terpenoids, benzenes, fatty acid derivatives, and some nitrogenous or sulfur compounds, contribute to the complex metabolic network that influences floral scent.
Breeding fragrant flowers is a complex process due to the intricate metabolic pathways and substrate specificities involved. However, advancements in molecular breeding techniques have enabled the development of new fragrant flower strains. One approach is to utilize transgenic technology to manipulate the synthesis pathways of floral compounds. By analyzing the fragrance components and identifying associated genes, researchers can modify the expression of these genes to enhance or suppress fragrance synthesis. This method has been successfully applied to create new varieties with special fragrances or even fragrance-free ornamental flowers for individuals sensitive to scents or with allergies.
To increase fragrance in flowers through breeding, researchers focus on overexpressing genes related to the floral fragrance synthesis and release pathway. By understanding the key genes controlling fragrance metabolism, they can regulate the release of scent by modifying the content of aromatic precursors synthesized by specific pathways, such as the shikimic acid and phenylpropanoid pathways. This genetic manipulation results in the development of new floral fragrances with enhanced aromatic qualities.
Additionally, phenylalanine treatment has been explored as a method to increase fragrance in flowers. By treating flowers with phenylalanine, the production of phenylpropanoid-benzenoid volatiles (BPVs) can be increased, leading to a more pronounced floral scent. This treatment has been effective in flowers like chrysanthemums, anemones, roses, Ornithogalum dubium, and gerberas, indicating the presence of concealed metabolic pathways that can be activated by increased substrate availability.
While floral biology and odor control research are still in their early stages, companies like Lifeasible offer services to assist customers in breeding ornamental flowers with enhanced fragrance. They utilize transgenic technology and genomic data analysis to regulate the synthesis pathways of floral compounds, allowing for the development of new fragrant varieties. These advancements in breeding techniques contribute to the creation of ornamental flowers with desirable fragrance characteristics.
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Frequently asked questions
Flowers develop fragrance as a survival strategy to attract pollinators like insects, birds, and even bats. You can increase the fragrance of flowers by making perfume or oil from them.
To make a simple water-based perfume, wash the flower petals and place them in a cheesecloth-lined bowl. Pour water over the petals, cover the bowl, and let it sit overnight. The next day, squeeze the pouch of petals over a saucepan to extract the flower-scented water. Simmer the water until you have a small amount of liquid, then pour it into a bottle. The perfume will last for up to a month if stored in a cool, dark place.
Pull the petals off the flowers and crush them with your fingers or a pestle and mortar. Place the petals in a jar and add oil (such as olive oil, corn oil, or sesame oil). This will allow you to observe how the concentration of flower oil affects the smell.
Some flowers known for their pleasant fragrance include roses, gardenias, lilies, petunias, magnolias, lavender, tuberose, lily of the valley, narcissus, honeysuckle, jasmine, violet, peony, phlox, daphne, lilac, and mock ora.
