Flowers That Smell Good at Night

Several flowers bloom only in the evening when they fill the air with sweet and spicy aromas. Although they can only be enjoyed in the evening, night-blooming flowers add interest and intrigue to you garden after the sun goes down. Once nightfall arrives, these fragrant, blooming flowers are guaranteed to enhance your outdoor space.

Night phlox has fragile burgundy petal clusters that open just as the sun sets to reveal white flowers. The flowers have a sweet, almost candy-like fragrance. Although the flowering plant only remains in bloom a few weeks of the summer, its presence adds interest to your night garden.

Evening stock flowers burst into action in the evening hours to reveal star-shaped blooms. They usually produce a variety of white, purple and pink small-size flowers, each bearing a scent similar to vanilla. The aroma is most potent at midnight. Mature evening stock grows up to a foot tall.

Named for their bloom time, four o'clock blooming plants erupt into colorful and fragrant blooms soon after 4 p.m. Their trumpet-shaped flowers appear as several color combinations that generally include yellow, pink, purple and white. In addition. As they progress through their bloom-period, the flowers change color. Flowers give off a jasmine-like perfume.

August lily is the most fragrant of the lily variety, according to Long Island Press. The flowers open at night during the latter half of summer. Their honey aroma fills the night air until the wee morning hours, when their flowers tightly close. August lilies are large flowers up to 5 inches long and 3 inches wide. Their blooms are white and shaped like a trumpet.

Moonflowers bloom in the evening in order to lure night-flying moths for pollination. It's related to the morning glory, which blooms in the morning. These white or purple flowers quickly begin to open after 6 p.m. from extended corolla tubes to a flat limb that allow its stamens and style to stick out. During its bloom period it also produces a perfumed scent. When fully bloomed, flowers are about 6 inches in size. This is a vigorous climbing plant with heart-shaped leaves.

Tuberose blooms in the mid-to-late summer. It has 18-inch long, thin white flowers of a waxy texture, which when opened have a strong and striking aroma. Tuberose is an ingredient often featured in designer perfumes, because of its pleasing smell.