Imagine walking out the front door on a chilly day, only to be greeted by a sweet, heavenly aroma coming from your very own garden! With the bare days of winter in full force, we turn to more unusual plants to brighten up the landscape. Sometimes, the appeal is not just for the eyes but also for the nose! Many fragrant plants that take center stage during the Winter. We have several to choose from, here at the nursery. Here are a few of our favorites:
Sweet Box (Sarcococca ruscifolia) and Himalayan Sweet Box (Sarcococca humilis)
This gorgeous shrub is filled with blossoms at this time of year! It has gleaming evergreen foliage to add some much-needed greenery to the winter landscape but it’s those flowers that really steal the show! Small and creamy white, they dangle from their branches with delicate splendor. Some people call Sweet Box the “vanilla plant”, due to its enticing aroma. And when the flowers fade, the show still goes on! Flowers are replaced by blood-red drupes, the small fruit that bunch together at the stems. The contrast between the glossy green leaves and the dark red drupes creates plenty of visual interest for your average February morning.
Sweet Box reaches heights of 4-6 feet tall. It lights up any walkway, border or container. Its smaller cousin, the Himalayan Sweet Box, is a dwarf variety, growing to be a 1-2 feet tall. It can be used as a groundcover and it also looks great in containers!
Witch Hazel (Hamamelis virginiana)
This large shrub is a very late bloomer (or early, depending on how you look at it)! It lights up with small yellow blooms in mid-winter, just after the last of its golden fall leaves have fallen. Each cluster of flowers looks like tiny shreds of coconut, swaying in the breeze which give off a warm, spicy aroma that titillates the nose! Growing up to 20-30 feet tall, this shrub makes an excellent focal point or several can be planted together to make a colorful, golden screen.
Winter Daphne (Daphne odora)
Winter Daphne is a delicate beauty. It needs a little additional love and care but the extra effort will always be worth the reward that this plant provides. This lovely shrub produces rosy purple buds that explode into bright rose pink blossoms in late winter, into early spring. Their fragrance is a robust jasmine-like perfume that will follow you, even after you’ve turned the corner. After the blooms have finished, healthy specimens will go on to produce red fruit!
It can be tricky to nurse this plant through the winter (especially the first one) so take care to give it what it most needs. Winter Daphne requires very good drainage and full sun to partial shade. They are sensitive to being transplanted and moved so try to find the right spot from the get-go. We recommend planting this beauty in a rock garden or raised bed and then keeping the soil moist but not soaked. If you play your cards right, you’ll have color, fragrance AND beauty right at your fingertips this winter.
Winter Honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantissima)
Winter honeysuckle is a lovely bushy, deciduous shrub that typically reaches 6-10 feet tall and just as wide. Its oval foliage is quite dark, almost bluish, and appears in mid-spring, after flowering and fruiting has completed. Flowering begins in late winter or early spring, with short-tubed, creamy white blossoms, typical of a honeysuckle. However, the aroma of these flowers is unlike any other honeysuckle! It’s a bold, lemony scent with hints of other fruity flavors, reminding the Furney’s staff of Fruit Loops cereal!
It’s an adaptable shrub, happy in most soils but preferring moist, loamy places. This plant is a harbinger of springtime! When you see those buds forming, you know that winter’s end is nigh. Snip off a few budded branches for fragrant, indoor blooming!
If you have a question or comment about any of these plants, please leave it below. Do you grow any of these fragrant winter wonders in your yard? Come to the nursery to get any of these plants and many many more. We hope to see you soon!
