International Fragrance

Summer Is The Ideal Time To Think About Winter

During these long summer days winter seems a long way off, however planning and planting winter flowering plants now will ensure the darkest depths that winter can throw are slightly brighter and a lot more fragrant. One of the commonest features of plants that flower in winter is their abundance of heavily perfume. The flowers are much smaller than their winter cousins but due to the lowers numbers of active pollinators they really have to advertise their presence.

One of the most popular winter flowering clematis available is Clematis cirrhosa ‘Wisley Cream’, it has stunning creamy white flowers from January onwards and prefers a sheltered position. However I prefer the less well-known Clematis Napaulensis, its native to Napal, Kashmir and Pakistan and is semi-evergreen with delicately divided leaves which as glossy when young during winter and then fall off, much like a deciduous shrub, but in summer. During January and February is has nodding green flowers with burgundy anthers falling lower than the petals with the added bonus if being scented. Because the foliage drops in summer you can plant it with summer flowering climbers and make the space work doubly hard. Ideally I would use an easy to prune climber, such as Vitis vinifera ‘Purpurea’ which you can easily keep under control during its growing period.

Now a shrub I don’t think is grown enough is Lonicera fragrantissima, its slightly scruffy during summer with small ovate dull green leaves, so best placed at the back of a mixed border but its well worth putting up with as over late winter and early spring it is covered in delicate small honeysuckle flowers that are clear snowy-white holding the most beautiful fragrance of summer. If you cut it and bring even a small bunch into a room it will fill the air within an hour with enough scent to rival the best hyacinths or lilies.

Another delicate white flower of winter is the sarcococca, I know many people know this plant now it has grown in popularity, being evergreen with ovate glossy leaves and fairly slow growing you can plant it, almost forget it and be taken totally by surprise when it flowers, by the heady fragrance. They are native to China and the Himalaya’s and are vey shade tolerant. I have grown a couple in pots, so that during winter I can place them near our front door and a
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ct incredulous when asked after the fragrance, I call this my guilty winter pleasure. However grown in the open soil they do sucker forming highly effective ground cover in difficult areas, giving you the bonus of plenty of cutting material for winter vases all they ask in return is a acidic based feed.

During last winter I made a point of observing the differences in the widely available Witch Hazels, Hamamelis. I have a fairly sizeable pot grown Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Diane’ this form has deep brown red flowers and are highly scented. The petals have a slightly crumpled effect giving them the appearance of being very delicate. Since its introduction in 1969 it has been a very popular variety with beautiful copper gold autumn foliage. One of my favourite yellow flowering witch hazels is ‘Arnold Promise’ this was raised at the world famous Arnold Arboretum in Boston, its slightly later than most to come into flower, however the long lasting flowers are a lovely clear lemon yellow with an extraordinary sweet scent. Again this variety has excellent autumn foliage colours from rich ruby through to clear gold.

The last variety I wanted to mention and one on my ‘wish list’ is Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Orange Beauty’ its a relatively new introduction but what sets it apart from the others is its glorious burnt orange flowers. The bunches of long wiry petals resembles the rich flames of a fire catching over the plant. Again it’s highly scented and has wonderful autumn colours but it really is the flowers of this that makes it a must. The horticultural meaning of the name Hamamelis is ‘together with fruit’ and the genus bears its flowers, seed, next years lead bud and some of last years leaves simultaneously. As a rule they are fairly easy to look after, they don’t need pruning growing fairly slowly and prefer to be grown in free draining slightly acidic soils in light shade away from exposed positions.

One winter flowering oddity I have been intrigued by is the Glastonbury Hawthorn, The Queen by tradition has this in flower on her breakfast table every Christmas. Native to Palestine legend has it that Joseph of Arimathea visited Glastonbury on his travels and stopped to rest on what is now called ‘Worrel Hill’ he struck is staff in the ground and it took root and grew. Its believed that the original tree was cut down during the English Civil War however grafted cutting of Crataegus monogyna var. Biflora survived and are still growing in Glastonbury. Recent attempts to grow the plant from seed have seen them revert to spring flowering only but grafting onto Prunus spinosa, the blackthorn, seems to preserve the Christmas flowering habit. The Glastonbury Hawthorn is available from growers and would make a lovely addition to native hedging or as a small garden tree.

Lastly and another winter flowering tree, and one I wouldn’t be without is the autumn flowering cherry, Prunus subhirtella autumnalis ‘Rosea’. It flowers anytime and repeatedly from November through to early March whenever there’s a mild spell. On twiggy stems is carries bunches of semi-double pale shell pink flowers making not only lovely cut flowers but hint of the spring to come. Eventually it will make a small tree up to 6m tall (20ft) over 20 years, it prefers free draining soils and really loves chalk. Not ideal for windy or exposed positions as you would be likely to watch the wind whisk those precious flowers away along with its rich burnt sugar coloured autumn foliage.

By: Paul Hervey-Brookes

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