For a sheltered, warm wall, Winter-sweet (Chimo-nanthus praecox) takes some beating. There aren’t too many shrubs that pip snowdrops into flower, let alone ones that scent a room with a single sprig. Once established, it requires little attention save an annual light pruning and training. We had to wait five years for the first flowers to appear (quite often it’s six), but now I regularly pause on trips down to the yard to sniff at the bunches of cream petals on bare blanches - the clove scent on clean, cold air is guaranteed to make me smile.
Better suited to a shady spot, ideal by a gateway or a path, Sarcocca (Winter box) come in two sizes, three or six foot (1m or 2m). Glossy, evergreen shrubs, you have to search for their tiny flowers, but you won’t miss the cloud of perfume that takes you by surprise a short way down the path.
But Daphne x bholua ‘Jacqueline Postill’ (image above), takes the mid-winter crown, purplish-pink buds open into clusters of bells that exude a sweet, heady fragrance, as easily discernable as a rose. Not a speedy grower, nor cheap to buy, this daphne is well worth the investment however, as flowers are produced even whilst the shrub is small, and the mature eight foot (2.5m) cone is structural and elegant. Plus, surprisingly resilient for such an exotic-seeming species, I’ve seen it unblemished and flowering copiously from the depths of a chilly frost pocket. Daphnes have a reputation for being tricky, and as I’ve lost three D. odora ‘Aureo-marginata’ that I planted over the years, I’d hesitate to recommend that particular beauty, but the only thing I’ve known to kill ‘Jacqueline Postill’ was a savage prune to a six-inch (18cm) stump.
Better suited to a shady spot, ideal by a gateway or a path, Sarcocca (Winter box) come in two sizes, three or six foot (1m or 2m). Glossy, evergreen shrubs, you have to search for their tiny flowers, but you won’t miss the cloud of perfume that takes you by surprise a short way down the path.
But Daphne x bholua ‘Jacqueline Postill’ (image above), takes the mid-winter crown, purplish-pink buds open into clusters of bells that exude a sweet, heady fragrance, as easily discernable as a rose. Not a speedy grower, nor cheap to buy, this daphne is well worth the investment however, as flowers are produced even whilst the shrub is small, and the mature eight foot (2.5m) cone is structural and elegant. Plus, surprisingly resilient for such an exotic-seeming species, I’ve seen it unblemished and flowering copiously from the depths of a chilly frost pocket. Daphnes have a reputation for being tricky, and as I’ve lost three D. odora ‘Aureo-marginata’ that I planted over the years, I’d hesitate to recommend that particular beauty, but the only thing I’ve known to kill ‘Jacqueline Postill’ was a savage prune to a six-inch (18cm) stump.
1 comment:
Beautiful flowers. my english is horrible but Ihave seen the nice reportage in the country living Lot of chance!!
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