by Lorene Edwards Forkner

Nothing says romance like a gardenia. Its heady perfume lingers far longer than the wilted and somewhat worse-for-wear prom wristlet, wedding corsage or floating blossom.

Fragrance is said to be the most direct link between our senses and that part of our brain that encapsulates memory. Personal association and past experience build our memory bank of scent.

It's a crying shame that as we age, our sense of smell diminishes. Perhaps it's an evolutionary parting gift that it lingers in our recall to be called forth with an unexpected whiff.

A subtropical native, the gardenia has proved a seductive but illusive guest in my Pacific Northwest garden. With our dry summers and cool temperatures, most years all I get for my effort is a single sorry - and fleeting - blossom. And then the plant dies over winter.

Oh sure, I've tried "hardy" gardenias. I'm afraid those poor plants merely endured their brief stay, sulking in tepid weather, continually dropping their buds and yellowed leaves. Not exactly the stuff of garden passion.

Heaven Scent gardenia, a floriferous and hardy compact form touted for its fabulously fragrant flowers, was a 2009 introduction in the Gardener's Confidence Collection. I received a small sample plant in the autumn of 2008.

Call me a scorned cynic, but I was skeptical of my chances. The little 4-inch plant spent the winter completely exposed on my potting bench through a record snow storm and temperatures that fell to 15 degrees.

Needless to say, I was unexpectedly surprised and completely delighted when my tiny shrub leafed out with vigor and set buds the following spring.

I quickly transplanted it into a suitable pot filled with a rich, well-drained potting mix and placed it where it would receive full morning sun and dappled afternoon shade. Along with the rest of my container plantings, I offered routine care and watering, and waited with bated breath.

Heaven Scent produced a mini-constellation of starry white redolent flowers in early summer. I was in love. My little plant thrived throughout the season, reblooming with abandon and doubling in size to become one of my favorite patio beauties.

Nearly maintenance free, this tidy evergreen shrub fits into borders and containers alike providing 4 to 5 months of intoxicating blooms and lustrous foliage.

Ephemeral as the winter sun, the elusive scents of winter blooming daphne (Daphne odora), witch hazel and bush honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantissima), tide me through these last few weeks of winter.

But I'm afraid my heart belongs to summer's Heaven Scent gardenia. Call me a romantic sap if you will, but maybe I'm simply scent-i-mental.

Lorene Edwards Forkner, freelance writer, food enthusiast and garden designer, revels in the seasonal pleasures and broad scope of gardening in the Pacific Northwest. She's the author of "Growing Your Own Vegetables" and "Canning & Preserving Your Own Harvest."