Heaven scent
Heady fragrances aren’t just for summer – winter has its aromatic stars too
IT’S time to wrap up, get outside and work off the excesses of Christmas Day. A mooch around the garden or a big walk in the park or woodland brings us back in touch with nature and its healing properties.
One of the treasures at this time of year is catching a whiff of perfume in the air.
It’s often a surprise as we associate heady scents with high summer but there are some special early flowering plants that choose the dead of winter to blossom.
By my front door, sweet box is in full flower. Sometimes I have to go right up to the small creamy white flowers to get a whiff but at other times when the sun warms it up a bit, the delicious fragrance just lingers in the air.
These and other scented plants will enjoy a sheltered spot and if they’re beside your main entrance it’ll mean you get to enjoy it every time you pass.
Sweet box or Sarcococca confusa is a handy winter evergreen with neat box-like foliage and a compact habit and performs well in sun or partial shade and in most soils.
I’ve also a daphne growing here – it’s not flowering yet but give it another month.
Daphnes are well known for their fabulous winter scent that comes from quite small pink flowers.
‘Jacqueline Postill’ is probably the best known but I think ‘Aureomarginata’ is one of the easier daphnes to grow and the gold margin around the leaves gives a welcome brightness during the dimly lit months of winter.
Daphnes dislike their roots being either waterlogged or dried out – a thick layer of organic mulch every spring will assist with this.
A bit of shade and shelter is ideal but too shady a spot might reduce flowering. This plant doesn’t like to be uprooted and disturbed so make sure you get the position right first time.
For the longest period of flowering you won’t do better than Viburnum x bodnantense.
This exceptional viburnum was a hybrid bred in 1934 in the famous Bodnant gardens in Conwy, Wales.
Clusters of pink blossoms on naked stems during winter waft delicious scents through the air – this can start as early as October and keep going until March.
It’s a very easy plant, growing on most soils in sun or partial shade, although it doesn’t like to be waterlogged.
Growing to about 10 feet high, it will produce berries after the flowers and also has good autumnal colour. There are several good cultivars such as ‘Dawn’, ‘Charles Lamont’ and ‘Deben’.
For pots or window boxes, the winter iris is a winner.
Iris unguicularis ‘Mary Barnard’ is rich in colour and scent – the intense violet purple petals with a splash of gold have a sweet prim- rose aroma.
Although they are hardy, their blossoms can shrivel in frost, so your best bet is to cut the flowers as they emerge and bring them indoors to admire them.
And talking of indoors, a bowl of Paperwhite narcissi will delight and remind you that spring lies just around the corner.
Happy New Year everyone!