I have just come inside laden with branches of my favourite fragrant winter shrub - Winter Sweet. Just divine. Smells so sweet, and you can smell it from miles away (well maybe an exaggeration), and inside the house it permeates the space with deliciousness!!
It is not a particularly attractive large shrub, so I usually place it to the rear of gardens, because it really is only WONDERFUL while it is flowering, and then more as the fragrance rather than a showy flower. Every large garden should have one somewhere, particularly beside paths or places you visit over winter.
I have poked my Winter Sweet in with some Japonica, or Flowering quince - (Chaenomeles sp), with bright pink flowers on bare branches. And some yellow Ginkgo leaves to bulk it out. A splash of brightness on this drab winter's day! Am loving being back inside my office after such a lot of planting jobs that absorb so much time. Although I LOVE the planting jobs, too!! Great mix.
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| Chaenomeles sp. - Flowering Quince, Japonica....... |
These are stunning - and a good reminder of how lovely an old fashioned plant can be.
ReplyDeleteHI Virginia - it is funny how many of the old plants are ignored. I think it is because I grew up in an old country garden, that I was familiar with many of these plants before I ever dreamt I would be a designer. So I know about them already, and have to admit that the nostalgia of the fragrance is one of the main reasons I love them. Takes me back to Black Rock Rd in a heartbeat as soon as I smell the winter sweet! x
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