Winter Scent

On warm winter days the best shrub near the house is Christmas Box. A little unseasonal by name maybe, when decorations are down but it makes a neat evergreen hedge with shiny leaves and has masses of tiny scented flowers. Its flowers maybe picked and taken inside where a small vase will fill a room with scent. Sarcococca confusa is one of the best forms as it grows to a modest height (5ft eventually), has pointed leaves and produces black berries. It responds well to clipping, which is best done immediately after flowering. Sarcococca ruscifolia has red berries and hookeriana humilis is a dwarf form that reaches only 1ft tall and spread by suckers.

Skimmias are also well known for their winter scent, but an understanding of their sex life is vital to successful berry production. Unless you mix male and female forms you will not get good fertilisation. One male plant can cope with up to five females in its midst, but smaller groups per male will result in more berries. Among the females “Nymans” produces large red berries followed by “Veitchii”. Paired off with the male japonica “Fragrans” which is shorter and is best planted in front of them both. The male “Rubella” is well known for its reddish-brown flower heads that develop before Christmas. All Skmimia like some shade making green mounds of foliage in difficult shady spots. Their foliage can take on a scorched yellow colour when in direct sunlight. Plants respond well to pruning and have a good vase life when picked in berry.

Winter flowering Honeysuckle is an easy, free flowering plant with a powerful scent. Whilst it is not fully evergreen its thick twiggy growth can act as a good screen. There are 2 forms, of which the earlier flowering Lonicera x purpusii “Winter Beauty” is better. It has small creamy white flowers in early spring which have a slight sharpness to their scent. It responds well to pruning and also maybe picked to be taken into the house. Lonicera fragrantissima flowers later than “Winter Beauty” and therefore gets lost in the cacophony of early spring.

Probably the greatest of all late winter scents are Mimosas. In recent winters these have struggled to survive in colder areas so choosing a sheltered spot out of cold wind is vital- ideally against a south or west facing wall. Plants that are hit by the cold will often recover by producing new suckers from ground level. Acacia dealbata is a large tree that produces bunches of ball-shaped yellow flowers, but I like baileyana purpurea which has purple foliage and more subtle open flower heads.

Wintersweet, Chimonanthus praecox is a shrub whose scent overpowers all of the above but some patience is required as can take a few years to flower properly. This should not put you off as it makes an impressive shrub whose bare branches will be filled with straw-yellow flowers in time. The heavily spiced winter scent is amazing and unmatched by any perfume you could ever buy.