Daphne thread--is there one already?
Cambridgerose12
Posts: 1,048
I would love to know about other members' favourite (or most successful) Daphnes. Where I garden on alkaline soil, the non-calcifuge forms do quite well, so I'm branching out currently.
I'll start the ball rolling with something a bit unexpected: Daphne laureola subsp. phillipi. I only bought this because it was claimed to tolerate dry shade under trees. Descriptions and photos suggested a leathery, squat little plant with olive green leaves. I've had mine for four years now, and it's one of my big pleasures each spring--it has acid lemon, tubular flowers (sadly no fragrance), and the leaves are shining, very dark holly-green. It will never outgrow its welcome. I'm constantly on the hunt for plants that really pay their way in a very small garden; this is one. It may not be the most dramatic or temperamental but it's a good thing.
I'll start the ball rolling with something a bit unexpected: Daphne laureola subsp. phillipi. I only bought this because it was claimed to tolerate dry shade under trees. Descriptions and photos suggested a leathery, squat little plant with olive green leaves. I've had mine for four years now, and it's one of my big pleasures each spring--it has acid lemon, tubular flowers (sadly no fragrance), and the leaves are shining, very dark holly-green. It will never outgrow its welcome. I'm constantly on the hunt for plants that really pay their way in a very small garden; this is one. It may not be the most dramatic or temperamental but it's a good thing.
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I love Jacqueline Postill! I have a very small specimen which is only gradually finding its feet, but it's looking healthy, so I am hopeful. I recently got Daphne acutiloba 'Fragrant Cloud', so I'm looking forward to seeing how that turns out.
Daphne mezereum alba which had golden berries.Pics 1 -4.
Daphne mezereum rubra....Pic 5
Deciduous...flowers on the bare branches in the winter/spring before the leaves.
Fab scent.
Very sadly in new garden we have lost 4 super young Daphne to some sort of virus/leaf disease. Had to dig them up and burn them.
Yet it was growing in one of the coldest, smallest, remotest villages in the middle of north Scotland...At Crianlarich.
Just had to stop and take a pic!
Another Daphne mezereum rubra.
Unfortunately, I unwisely transplanted it out of its garden centre pot at the beginning of summer (definitely chose the wrong time of year) to plant it in the ground; it was not happy, went into shock, and dropped all its flowers in protest at the treatment. However, I am hoping that this year, having rested and recuperated over winter, I will once again be able to enjoy the gorgeous fragrance.
I hope you love your "Eternal Fragrance" and get as much joy from it as I do!