Daphne
In January
and February, if you go to Wakehurst and walk towards the Himalayan Glade
(where you can feed the birds) from the Iris Garden, or walk through the Winter
Garden, you will be hit by the magnificent scent of their Daphnes.
Although these are probably the reliable
Daphne bholua Jaqueline Postill
with pink flowers, other varieties such as Perfume Princess (a little
shorter) and the darker purple bholua Limpsfield are available. Typically growing to 5ft (1.5m), these are
ideal for a semi-shaded sheltered spot and will remain in flower and scent for
about a month, if not longer, and are wonderful near to a window or door in
winter. Smaller, more compact varieties
are also available such as Daphne x transatlantica Eternal Fragrance,
flowering later in spring and even repeating through the summer. These can even
be grown in a container although we have found that they do perform better in
the ground. Garden centres tend to stock
Daphne odora Aureomarginata which has gold edged leaves, but this can be
rather temperamental especially in our clay soil – we recommend trying to track down one of the other varieties if
you can.
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