10 award-winning (AGM) fragrant wall plants

As well as providing a background for plants in the borders, climbers and wall shrubs bring us colour and often fragrance too. The still conditions close to a wall or fence help ensure that scent hangs in the air, so we appreciate it more fully. This choice of mostly evergreen RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM) climbers and wall shrubs from across the seasons provides a range of appealing scents as well as attractive flowers.

Gold flame

Richly-fragrant flowers, deep pink outside and orange-yellow within, appear in late summer

This twining not-quite-evergreen climber has elliptical, dark green leaves that develop bluish tints at the end of the summer and into autumn. Through the summer, Lonicera x heckrottii ‘Gold Flame’s curved pink

A bud is a small, undeveloped shoot that contains the potential for new growth. Buds are typically found on stems, where they can be apical (found at the tip) or axillary (found between leaf axils) and may develop into leaves, shoots or flowers.

White delicacy

Fragrant flowers are white, tinged pink in bud. They appear in small clusters in late spring, and again in autumn

Choisyas are known for their long flowering season, their citrus scented clusters of flowers and the cover that their dense evergreen foliage provides for nesting birds. But recent hybrids, including Choisya × dewitteana ‘Aztec Pearl’, add a delicacy of leaf that significantly improves the overall look of the plant. Best in full sun, it blooms in late spring and again in summer and autumn. 2.4m (8ft). Hardiness rating H4.

Yellow bells

Velvety, bell-shaped pale yellow flowers with reflexed tips and greenish-brown stamens are sweetly scented

This is a delightful self-clinging climber but also a vigorous one. From midsummer almost to winter, sprays of dainty, pale yellow bells open with a fragrance reminiscent of cowslips that can fill the garden. Clematis rehderiana make a great deal of growth so needs plenty of space, though can be pruned back in spring. Can be allowed to climb into a tree, and on stout fence as support. Height to 6m (20ft). Hardiness rating H5.

Sun loving camellias

‘Narumigata’ has an upright habit and single pink-tinged white flowers

We don’t always think of camellias as scented, or as needing a wall or fence, but Camellia sasanqua ‘Narumigata’ gives its best with a little protection from a wall - and it also takes more sun than many camellias. In autumn, the fragrant, pink-tinted white flowers are beautifully shown off by the glossy, dark green foliage. Height to 3m (10ft). Hardiness rating H4.

Night fragrance

A deciduous or semi-evergreen medium-sized shrub, with lanceolate leaves to 12cm in length

The fragrance of this prolific

Deciduous refers to plants (mainly trees and shrubs) that lose their leaves seasonally, usually during autumn. This is a natural process triggered by the season's shorter days and lower temperatures and allows plants to conserve energy during the winter months.

Winter cinnamon

A spreading evergreen large shrub or tree with glossy oblong leaves glaucous beneath

Dark, leathery, rhododendron-like foliage shows off the clusters of creamy, well-scented flowers which open in loose clusters in the shoot tips in spring and early summer. Drimys winteri will outgrow its space when happy, but fierce winters may cut it back. Prune thoughtfully after flowering, especially if frosted, cutting back to new shoots. Height to 4m (13ft). Hardiness rating H4.

Underestimated beauty

A deciduous shrub with attractive rich red and purple autumn colour and fragrant creamy-white flowers in July

Unjustly passed over by many gardeners, Itea virginica ‘Henry's Garnet’ features impressive rich, purplish red autumn foliage which follows its long, drooping spikes of fragrant white flowers in early summer. Cut out some of the oldest growth each year, as the younger shoots produce the best flowers and richest autumn colour. Height to 2m (6.5ft). Hardiness rating H5.

Drama queen

Plentiful, highly fragrant, large cup-shaped creamy-white flowers are produced from summer to autumn

Magnolia grandiflora is a dramatic and imposing evergreen tree: the problem is that it can reach 18m and may wait some years after planting before it blooms. Magnolia grandiflora ‘Kay Parris’ makes a much smaller plant, and opens its huge, white spicily lemon scented flowers when still young. Best on a sunny wall, but takes some shade. Height to 2m (6.5ft). Hardiness rating H5.

A glossy evergreen

Vigorous, evergreen, woody climber with twining stems, glossy dark green, oval leaves, often turning deep bronze-red in winter

This twining evergreen, Trachelospermum jasminoides, features clusters of heavily scented white flowers, fading to cream, and set against dark glossy foliage which develops bronze tints in winter. Once grown in conservatories but now proven hardier than was thought and so becoming popular. Easily pruned in early spring to keep to the size needed. The

Variegated means having leaves or other plant parts with streaks, blotches or patches of different colours. Typically, these would be a combination of two colours, such as green and gold or green and white.

Dark beauty

A large, spreading, deciduous shrub with dark green, palmate leaves 

Vitex agnus-castus var. latifolia has dark, neatly pointed, aromatic foliage. It needs a sunny wall to flower well but given that and any reasonable well-drained soil is usually covered with a profusion of 15cm spikes of fragrant, lilac-blue flowers in September and October. Best pruned back to a framework each spring 3m (10ft). Hardiness rating H5.