Designed especially for the enjoyment of the visually impaired, the Fragrance and Texture Garden was one of the first gardens developed on the MBG site. But visitors of all abilities can enjoy this peaceful site. Features include benches, a Japanese footbridge and a small koi pond. The level, paved trail is suitable for wheelchairs or persons who have difficulty with uneven ground.
Trees and Shrubs in the Fragrance and Texture Garden
Leyland Cypress
This hybrid forms an evergreen tree with columnar to pyramidal outline. An excellent tree for the landscape, adapting well to any soil, growing fast and easily pruned making it a good screen. Space at least 6 ft. apart for a hedge.
Okame Cherry Prunus incisa x campanulata
One of the best, small (to 25 ft.) flowering cherries for the Gulf Coastal area in that it usually flowers after last frost with light carmine-pink blooms.
Lily-of-the-valley Tree, Japanese Andromeda Pieris japonica
This shrub gets its name from the spring flowers that are similar to the bulbous plant Lily of the Valley (Convallaria majalis). It is attractive in its shrub form, but makes a handsome small tree. Slow growing and shade loving. Many cultivars are being developed – some with red flowers.
Sweet Viburnum Viburnum odoratissimum
This viburnum was introduced into the US in 1879 from Japan. In the landscape it makes a handsome shrub to about 15 ft. high with lustrous, dark green leaves.
Momi Fir Abies firma
Praised for its heat tolerance. In its native habitat of Japan it grows to 150 ft. Here it will reach 50 ft.
Oakleaf Hydrangea Hydrangea quercifolia
A native hydrangea growing to 8 ft. with long clusters of white to pink flowers in late spring. Excellent for the home landscapes and for the woodland garden. Likes a shady and cool root run site. Good fall color.
Persian Parrotia Parrotia persica
A member of the Witch Hazel family. Michael Dirr, in his Manual of Woody Landscape Plants, lists this as one of the best for its bark characteristics, pest resistance, as an accent plant or a small lawn or street tree.
Leucothoe populifolia Agarista populifolia
A native shrub found growing in wet woodlands and along stream banks. Excellent choice for a shade garden or for screening. Its naturalistic effect can be maintained at manageable height and size by proper pruning. It has a natural, drooping habit of growth.
Sago Palm Cycas revoluta
A plant whose fossilized relatives have been found from the age of dinosaurs. The foliage is very stiff in appearance but creates a striking texture in the landscape. Often the fronds are killed in freezes here along the Gulf Coast, but will return from the base.
Taiwan spruce Picea morrisonicola
In its native habitat of Taiwan it may reach heights of 140 ft.
Japanese Fatsia Fatsia japonica
A bold foliage plant for the landscape with white flowers in winter and black nut in early spring. Good plant for shady areas.
Southern Wax Myrtle Myrica cerifera
This shrub tolerates infertile soils but responds well to moisture and nutrients. Can be trained as a multi-trunked specimen.
Common Coral, or “Cry-baby Tree” Erythrium Crista-galli
A large shrub/small tree native to south of the equator with large racemes of 2″ long and 1″ wide carmine-red flowers. Along the Gulf Coast it is treated more as a perennial than a shrub as it is not completely hardy.
Cotton or Confederate Rose Hibiscus mutabilis
A small shrub or tree up to 15′ high with leaves 5-7 lobed leaves up to 10″ long. 2-3” flowers bloom pink fading to white. A hibiscus found in many old gardens, it often freezes to the ground in winter but re-grows the following spring.
Japanese Cryptomeria or Cedar Cryptomeria japonica
A good conifer for southern landscapes with a graceful and handsome shape especially when used as a specimen leaving all limbs to base.
Myrtle or Dahoon Holly Ilex myrtifolia
This native holly is different from Cassine Holly in that its leaves are narrower and longer and has a singular fruit instead of clusters.
Small Anise or Anise-tree Illicium parviflorum
A plant found growing in wet areas of southern Georgia and Florida, but will tolerate dry soils. Among the anise species, it has proved to be a rugged landscape plant, especially for screening.
Florida Anise-tree Illicium floridanum
Native to our area and found growing profusely on the Shropshire Nature Trail. The foliage is dark green emitting a strong, pungent fragrance similar to anise. The flowers are an attractive deep wine-red color, but malodorous.
Florida Maple, Southern Sugar Maple Acer barbatum
A small tree (20′ to 25′) found growing from Virginia throughout the south along streams and in swamps of the Piedmont and Coastal Plain. Colors are outstanding in the fall about two weeks later than the species saccharum.
White Flowered Florida Anise Illicium floridanum ‘Alba f
A selected form of the species having white flowers instead of wine-red.
Heritage River Birch Betula nigra ‘Heritage’
A very adaptable tree for the landscape having an upright form of growth with head eventually rounding out. This particular cultivar is noted for its exfoliating bark in the fall and winter when the new bark is a salmon-brown.
Coastal Leucothoe Leucothoe axillaris
An excellent small shrub for the garden. A compact, dark green leafed plant with drooping growth. Attractive, but not showy, flowers appear in spring.
Sweet or Tea Olive Osmanthus fragrans
In our area this is the plant for fragrance from the first cool snap of fall to the last one of spring. Sweet Olive will flower after each cool snap with numerous, small, cream colored flowers.
Bigleaf Hydrangea Hydrangea macrophylla
This is the plant forced by florists for the pot plant trade in early spring. It adapts well to Atlantic and Gulf Coast Gardens.
Henry’s Anise-tree Illicium henryi
An excellent small tree to 15′ or a compact pyramidal broadleaf evergreen shrub. Flowers are in the leaf axils varying from pink to deep crimson on long arching pedicels. A good plant for the shade garden.
Chalkbark or Whitebark Maple Acer leucoderme
Another variation of the Sugar Maple having more pubescence on the underside of the leaf than A. barbatum. This variation is more suitable in home landscapes than the Sugar Maple due to its compact size and excellent fall color.
Japanese Anise-tree Illicium anisatum
This species of Illicium is a native of Japan and China introduced into the US in 1780. The undersides of the wavy leaves are darker than the native illiciums. It is an excellent tree for the partial shade garden requiring a well-drained site and moderately rich soil.