a few queries
I have 2 sarcacoccas, 1 which though I check closely seems to amazingly develop berries without flowers(!) another which is in flower now but seems to have to have no scent, that's in a pot in a semi shade sheltered place in apot. Secondly, I want to add spme English bluebells in a shady border under a rose and jacmine, can I plant them then spot treat spanish ones with weedkiller when they come up this year without threat of hybridisation?or should i kill all spanish ones first? Thirdly, I have a very few violets which seem to hardly flower, I would like to add more ( odorata ) how best to plant or sow and how best to grow? Thanks in advance
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to answer one of your questions. Sarcocca scent will only be noticed if you cut it and bring it into the house. I tout the same as you until I did this.
spanish bluebells - have you got some already? Your post does not make that clear. If you do have hem just dig them out. If you are worried hat if you buy english bluebells that may have Spanish ones mixed in - if you buy from a reputable company that will not happen.
cant help with violets.
Sarcococca must have flowered for the berries to have formed. Perhaps it sneaked a few flowers last spring when you weren't watching. The scentless one is probably down to the cold weather, nectar perhaps not being produced or the cold preventing its processes from producing scent. Check it on a mild day. I'd remove the hybrid bluebells completely (might be a year or two before you're sure as little bulbs will doubtless be present even after a good weed out. The violets can be sourced as little plants from a good supplier of native plants and seeds.
H-C
Hi Rosemummy, firstly no plant will berry without having flowered first. The flowers as you have properly noticed are very small, the berries could also have been on the plant from last year and you just didn't notice. You do notice the scent if you cut a small piece off and bring it into the warmth It is almost overpowering.
If you have got Spanish bluebells clear them first, make sure you get even the little bulbets out . I don't think you would be very successful trying to spot weedkill them, some times there just isnt a shortcut.
My Sarcococca confusa scents a wide area of garden in the worst of weathers. I have another, in flower now, can't remember which one, I can't smell anything.
In the sticks near Peterborough
I have one I can't smell - I shall go and cut a branch for indoors right now
Mind you I can't smell witch hazel unless I breathe on it to warm it up, so maybe I have a dull nose ?
Last edited: 05 February 2017 09:43:04
Chicky you don't need to cut a branch just a sprig will do the job.
the one I can't smell is S. hookeriana 'Winter Gem'. Its label is still sitting on the kitchen table from planting it some weeks ago.
In the sticks near Peterborough
I planted a sarcococca three years ago - this week, for the first time ever I walked out of my front door and the perfume hit me in the face just as I had hoped when I planted it... the temperature had gone up a few degrees, so I think it must need the slightly warmer air to carry the scent - the same as with my Vib. bodnantense.
The first time I ever really noticed the scent of sarcococca was on a sunny January day by Tower Bridge in London, where there is a large planting in front of a hotel where we were staying.
Last edited: 05 February 2017 10:13:07
Sacrococca is my favourite scent. I had two in my old garden and it filled the air. I have planted four in my new garden and they don't smell.
It took me 3 years too before I noticed the scent unless it was indoors. This year, I've even noticed it when it has been cold. Maybe they need time to settle in our gardens. A couple of small sprig with some scented snowdrop flowers in a small vase add a gorgeous aroma to a room.