Blooming Times: Winter Wonders

Tuesday, 19 November 2024 08:00

By Flo Whitaker

Flowering in the coldest months may seem counter- intuitive, but from a plant’s perspective, there is a distinct advantage – a lack of competition. Flo Whitaker picks six of the best winter- scented shrubs

Winter flowers are typically diminutive and have exquisite jewel-like auras that blousy summer blooms lack. These small wonders are perfectly evolved to cope with bad weather. Their blooms often have waxy coatings to make them frost, wind and rain-resistant and many are sweet-scented to attract intrepid foraging/pollinating creatures.

Daphne is the queen of winter- flowering shrubs. Alas, she also comes with a regal price tag. This is due to the daphne family’s imperious nature; they are difficult to propagate, relatively slow-growing and their deep roots dislike the confines of a flowerpot. However, given a sheltered, lightly shaded border offering well- drained, humus-rich soil, they’ll thrive. With yuletide fast approaching, a letter to Father Christmas could be a useful strategy?

Chimonanthus, (Wintersweet) carries yellow-ish/white flowers on bare stems during January and February. Its incredible scent will waft over a large area – you’ll smell it before you see it. Wintersweet is best grown in a brightly- lit spot, where sunshine can warm up the blooms for maximum perfume.

The enormous viburnum family offers plants for interest throughout the year, including some winter-scented characters, although their ‘perfume’ is a rather divisive topic. Some folk sniff viburnums and say “Mmm – lovely!”, while others grimace and declare “Eww – tom cat!”. Scent is so subjective. Let your nose be your guide – sniff before you buy ...

The glossy, evergreen foliage of sarcococca, (Christmas Box) looks good all year, but it really pulls out the stops in winter/early spring with tiny pure white flowers. It can be (gently) clipped to make a low-ish shrub, making it ideal for the edge of a path, so you can enjoy the fragrance as you walk by. Sarcococca copes with almost any location, including dry shade.

The fragile-looking petals of Witch Hazel, (Hamamelis) are deceptively robust. Encased in frost, they’ll spring back into life – and glorious scent within minutes of thawing. Witch Hazels are such obliging plants, even their flowers are helpfully colour- coded. Varieties in shades of yellow emit a lemony/citrus scent, whereas those with red/ mahogany blooms have a spicy perfume redolent of cinnamon and nutmeg.

We mostly associate honeysuckle, (Lonicera) with summer, but there are winter performers too. Semi-evergreen in habit; they shed some foliage in autumn and make new leaves in spring. This trait, combined with the haphazard growth attitude of the honeysuckle family, is guaranteed to drive neat and tidy gardeners mad.

Admittedly, an unstructured, multi-stemmed bush, with leaves half on/half off is not pretty, but never mind about that – purchase a Lonicera fragrantissima today! It’ll flower sporadically from November to February, so you can always find a couple of sprigs for a vase. Just a few tiny flowers will scent a room; bringing hope and cheer at the darkest time of year.

Blooming Times: Winter Wonders

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