SCENT ON THE BREEZE PLAN, PLANT IN FALL FOR INTOXICATING SPRING FRAGRANCE.

Byline: Karen Dardick Correspondent

Area gardeners can take advantage of fall in Southern California and plant gardens now that will explode in color this spring. With a little planning, you can also create a sensory experience of fragrance as well as color by including plants with enticing aromas.

Fragrance in flowers comes in many different aromas, with spice, citrus, honey, vanilla, grape and apple just a few of the many scents flowers can emit.

``We rely a lot on sight and taste, but our noses are always somewhat neglected, I think,'' said Ohio gardener Glenn Varner, who has built a successful mail-order nursery based on scented plants, called Flower Scent Gardens. ``Good smells add a whole other dimension to gardening.''

One caution: If everything in your garden emits fragrances at the same time, the result can be a cloying, overwhelmingly unpleasant experience. A little planning will lead to a great deal of enjoyment in just a few months if you take into account the bloom period of each plant you select.

Plants give off fragrances to attract pollinators, and you'll often notice that some of the most fragrant flowers are white (although there are exceptions). The lack of color attracts the insects needed to spread the pollen.

``Many fragrant plants are in the form of shrubs or vines,'' said Gary Jones, owner of Hortus, a nursery in Pasadena.

``This is an excellent time of year to add some into a landscape,'' he said. ``Nights are shorter, temperatures are cooler and plants will develop strong root systems before they bloom in spring.''

Citrus trees, full or dwarf-sized, flourish in Southern California gardens. With the development of many dwarf varieties, it's possible to enjoy lemon, lime, orange or a grafted combination in small beds or containers. Some varieties will perfume a garden much of the year.

Jones often recommends viburnum shrubs for foundation plantings that add color, fragrance and an added bonus of ornamental fruit in summer. ``Korean Spice Viburnum'' (V. carlesii) sets pink flower buds in March, opening to sweetly fragrant white flowers in wide clusters through May. Blue-black berries form in summer.

He also recommends two other foundation plants: Mexican Orange, sometimes called Mock Orange, (Choisya ternata) and Orange Jessamine (Murraya paniculata).

Mexican Orange is an evergreen shrub than can grow as tall as 8 feet with equal spread. Clusters of fragrant white flowers open in early spring and continue through April and even into summer. The scent is reminiscent of oranges. This plant looks best when pruned to shape and can get scraggly if it doesn't get enough sun.

Orange Jessamine is taller, growing to 15 feet, and can be grown as a small tree or shrub. It has a graceful, open form and produces profuse clusters of small, white, bell-shaped flowers in late summer and fall. The fragrance is similar to that of jasmine.

Of course, jasmine is a popular fragrance plant and can also be included as a shrub or vine. Jasminum polyanthum is a vigorous vine, growing to 20 feet, so it can quickly cover a structure. Fragrant clusters of white flowers bloom from February through July. Annual pruning is recommended to control it. A less-demanding variety is Angelwing Jasmine (J. nitidum). Also an evergreen vine, it is moderate in growth, from 10 to 20 feet, and can be kept in a container. Very fragrant white flowers with purple casts are produced in late spring and summer. Italian jasmine (J. humile) can be grown as a vine or shrub, if clipped. Clusters of fragrant, bright yellow flowers appear from July through September.

Another tall, fragrant shrub that flourishes in this region is Pittosporum tobira, a dense shrub or small tree with very glossy deep green foliage and fragrant white flowers that smell like citrus when they appear in spring. They'll set fruit pods, which split open in summer to reveal showy orange seed pods.

Summer fragrance will be produced by Buddleia davidii, called butterfly bush because its nectar lures butterflies to the panicles of flowers. Hybrid varieties bloom in shades of pink, purple, dark blue and rose red.

Heliotrope is a smaller, more manageable shrub that blooms almost the entire year. The vanilla scent also attracts butterflies as well as bees. If you can find ``Alba,'' include this in your garden. Free flowering, easy to care for, it will reward you with almost nonstop blooms. Heliotrope has a tendency to flop and can be easily controlled by light pruning.

There are several shrubs that don't offer much in the way of appearance, but deserve a spot in the garden because of their fragrance. Aloysia virgata is a favorite of landscape architect Shirley Kerins, who also manages the plant sales at the Huntington Botanical Gardens. She recommends planting this tall grower in an inconspicuous part of the garden and then enjoying the scent (she describes it as smelling like Kool-Aid) as it wafts through the garden in spring and fall.

Another shrub with similar characteristics is the sweet olive (Osmanthus fragrans), not much to look at but a joy to smell when its tiny white flowers produce a powerful, sweet, apricotlike fragrance in spring and summer.

Fall is also a time to plant bulbs. Be sure to include some heady hyacinths or provocative freesias. All hyacinths need at least six weeks chilling in the refrigerator before being placed in landscapes or containers. Freesias can go directly into the ground or pots. Jones recommends the white freesia, ``Ballerina,'' as an exceptionally fragrant variety.

Many irises also produce lovely grapelike perfumes. At this time of year, plants are sold as bare rhizomes. Look for repeat-blooming varieties that will flower intermittently spring through fall.

Some fragrant plants are dormant at this time of year and don't have much eye appeal. Lilacs and wisteria are examples of plants that will explode with spring color and fragrance if planted now, in their dormant state.

Many people regard roses as synonymous with fragrant plants. Not all are fragrant, but some modern and antique roses produce lovely scents. You can find plants in containers at this time of year, but you'll find a larger selection when the bare-root season arrives in early January.

- Wire services also contributed to this story.

Top 10 fragrant plants

Aloysia virgata Iris

Buddleia davidii Jasmine

Freesia Lilacs

Heliotrope Sweet olive

Hyacinth  Virburnumd

CAPTION(S):

5 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) extra-scent-sory perception

Plant now for the intoxicating fragrance of spring flowers

(2 -- 3 -- color) The jasmine flower blooms from February through July. This early riser is courtesy of Hortus in Pasadena. Below, the nectar of the butterfly bush flower - Buddleia davidii - produces a scent that lure butterflies.

(4 -- color) A shrub with little visual appeal but a powerful, sweet, apricotlike fragrance is the sweet olive, or Osmanthus fragrans.

(5) The heliotrope is a small, manageable shrub that produces a vanilla scent that attracts butterflies as well as bees.

Bernardo Alpa/Staff Photographer

Box: Top 10 frangrant plants (see text)