Why early blooms smell sweeter than ever
SPRING IS IN THE AIR...
THE sweet smell of success can be found in gardens this month as flowers bloom larger, thanks to last year’s sunny summer and a lack of hard frost this winter.
Witch hazel, shrubby honeysuckles and winter-flowering viburnums are all bringing a burst of colour and stunning scents to gardens across the UK, say experts at the Royal Horticultural Society.
Paul Cook, curator of RHS Garden Harlow Carr, in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, said February had been a floral delight.
He said: “Witch hazel has a wonderful winter scent that is stopping visitors in their tracks. It’s the best I can remember.
“The fragrance is just bewitching, intensified by the mild winter and a lack of frost which can mute its sweet smelling perfume. Many are beautifully aromatic, some floral, some zesty and some spicy.”
Visitors were also in for a floral treat at RHS Garden Wisley in Surrey.
Intense
Two-year-old Gabriel Stagg stopped to look at the glorious yellow blooms of the witch hazel yesterday. The flowers are the largest the site has seen in years.
Horticulturist Claire Rady also admired the pink camellia Bow Bells. The strongly scented daphnes were also in full bloom.
Matthew Pottage, curator at RHS Wisley, said: “The scents in the garden are the most intense I can recall.”
In Leeds, three-year-old Scarlet played among the carpet of yellow and purple crocuses in Temple Newsam park.
In Essex, Robert Brett, curator at RHS Garden Hyde Hall, said the scents from the wintersweet and viburnum were the best in living memory. Guy Barter, RHS chief horticulturist, said: “After a period of cold the flowers come out on warm days and their scent drifts over the gardens.”
Meanwhile, spring was declared in Cornwall on February 14 – a month earlier than the official March 20 in the UK.
In the county, six magnolia campbellii trees are watched in six gardens each year. Once they have 50 blooms each officials claim spring has arrived.