If I could send fragrance along with a blog post, this could be a one-sentence missive. All it would need to say is common sweetshrub (Calycanthus floridus): Smell it, love it, plant it.
Above: Common sweetshrub (Calycanthus floridus)
One of two plants in my backyard just started to bloom, and the fruity fragrance of the flowers gathers outside the back door whenever the air is still. William Cullina provided an effective description of the fragrance in his Native Trees, Shrubs, & Vines (Houghton Mifflin, 2002). He summed it up as “a fruit salad perfume of strawberry, banana, mango, and peach guaranteed to get your stomach rumbling.”
Eastern Shore Gardener 