How much more local do you want?

Daphne bholua Limpsfield in Hurst Green

At this time of year, the garden can look a little like a wasteland, with little to tempt anyone but the most obsessive gardener outside. I know that we should be out preparing for Spring, pruning away and clearing up the borders, but the wet weather that we have been suffering from does not make this overly attractive. We all need reasons to go out, and one of the best at the moment is the smell of the Daphne that is outside my back door. The scent of many winter flowering plants is the drive that can make us go outside at this time of year, and few perform better than Daphne Bholua. The small clusters of pinkish purple flowers open up in late January to early February, and will scent a very wide area. We came across this plant some years ago at Wakehurst, where there is a stand of a number of plants just as you enter the path that leads to the bird area (if you have been, you will know where I mean). We smelt the Daphnes a long time before we saw them, and decided that we had to have one in our garden.  The one shown in this post has been in our garden for about three or four years.

The highly scented flowers of
Daphne Bholua Limpsfield

One of the most popular scented varieties is Daphne Bholua Jacqueline Postill. It is found as a recommendation in many of the gardening tomes - but there is a recent problem with this variety. You may know that, in order to maintain a specific cultivar, it has to be propagated vegetatively, that is by cloning through cuttings, layering etc, and not through seed as the variety cannot then be guaranteed. There is apparently only one plant breeder in the UK propagating Jacqueline Postill - and he has just retired. It is therefore difficult to find in most nurseries at the moment. Instead, why not try another variety that seems to be just as good - the wonderful locally named Daphne Bholua Limpsfield? This is the plant that is in our own garden, and it seems well adapted to the Hurst Green clay soil. It needs a sheltered position, with some sun, but ideally not south facing; it is hardy but can do with some protection from hard frost as this can kill off the blooms before they open.  Putting it in a position that does not get too windy is also ideal as it will allow the scent to collect without being blown away - ideally close to the back door with protection and shelter from the house. It needs little maintenance and will eventually grow to a maximum of 4 meters. although it stays reasonably compact for many years. The only other consideration is that, although generally evergreen in Hurst Green, the plant can be a little straggly and dull in the summer, a little like camellias or rhododendrons - plant it as a shrub for winter interest, with companion planting to divert the eye for the remainder of the year. The scent is well worth the effort.

And, of course, you cannot get more local than a plant named Limpsfield!