HOW BLOOMING CLEVER!

Monty Don explores the scented shrubs that have all chosen winter months as their time to shine

There’s a small group of shrubs that have evolved to flower now, in the depths of winter, so as to catch the attentions of the very few insects that are out and about. The pollinator pond may be tiny right now but these plants are the biggest fish in it.

None is better than winter honeysuckle, Lonicera fragrantissima .Itis a messy shrub but that is forgiven for its flowers and haunting scent. Tiny, ivory yellow and carried on its bare, woody stems (although in mild areas it will be almost evergreen), the blooms would scarcely be noticed in the hurly-burly of a May garden but they earn pride of place in winter. The flowers start in December and continue into March, but January is their month and I always try to have a sprig or two in a tiny vase to fill the kitchen with their sweet scent. Winter honeysuckle will grow happily in dry shade and does not need feeding or rich soil, as this will only encourage a mass of foliage at the expense of flowers.

I planted wintersweet, Chimonanthus praecox, in a container this summer, which has not yet flowered at the time of writing – but it can take a few years to establish, so I have high hopes. Wintersweet produces a magical fragrance from its tiny, egg yolk-yellow flowers, which have a scarlet interior base to each petal. The scent lasts much longer in a cold room. This tends to be true of all winterflowering shrubs, which have not evolved to need heat to draw out their fragrance. Wintersweet is quite tender, which is why I am growing it in a container so I can move it into the sun and out of the cold winds. It can be trained to make a (scrawny) climber on a sheltered, sunny wall, and in many ways it is best grown like this, with a clematis using it for support in the summer. It grows best on well-drained soil and is very happy on chalk or limestone.

There are a number of viburnums that offer winter colour and scent. I grow the evergreen Viburnum tinus ‘Eve Price’, which has clusters of pink buds that open to small, white, star-shaped flowers in late winter. These are followed by dark-blue berries in late summer. Adaptable and easy to grow, it tolerates full sun through to shade, as well as exposed positions. V. x bodnantense ‘Dawn’ has pink flowerheads made of florets of tiny individual flowers on bare branches that can start appearing in autumn and last through to March; ‘Charles Lamont’ is also pink, while ‘Deben’ is almost white. V. farreri has a good fragrance and is best outside against a warm wall that will trap its scent. The species flowers are white tinged with pink, whereas V. f. ‘Candidissimum’ is pure white.

Like Viburnum ‘Eve Price’, mahonia is a very fragrant evergreen. Mahonia x media ‘Charity’ will grow to a substantial (and very prickly) shrub, measuring 2sq m given space and time. The first to bloom, however, is M. x

media ‘Lionel Fortescue’, which will draw all the bees to its upright lemon flowers, which are strongly scented of lily of the valley. ‘Winter Sun’ is smaller than either ‘Charity’ or ‘Lionel Fortescue’ and also has deliciously scented flowers. M. x media will grow to 1.5-2m in time but can be pruned back as is convenient. It is an excellent plant for an awkward corner as, like all mahonias, it thrives in dry shade.

Monty with Viburnum tinus ‘Eve Price’ (also inset left). Yellow flowers below: wintersweet