Wake up and smell the season

Even on the darkest, drabbest and dreariest of days, a whiff of a winter blossom is a welcome reminder that spring is waiting, quietly, in the wings, writes FIONNUALA FALLON

OF ALL THE five human senses – touch, sight, taste, hearing and smell – it’s surely smell that brings the winter gardens suddenly, vividly, to life, reminding us gardeners that on even the darkest, the drabbest and the dreariest of days, the cycle of the seasons continues and that spring waits, quietly, in the wings. This is probably because, more than any of the other senses, it is smell that connects us so powerfully and so immediately with the past, whether it’s an early childhood memory of the heavily potent perfume of “forced” Christmas hyacinths or the annual pleasure to be enjoyed in smelling the first tiny, vanilla-scented blossoms of the winter-flowering, evergreen shrub, Azara microphylla.

But perhaps the most outstanding example of this is Daphne bholua “Jacqueline Postill”, a tallish (12-14ft), usually evergreen shrub whose tiny, star-shaped pinkish flowers appear in mid-winter and have a prettiness that might possibly be overlooked were it not for their astonishing, knock-your-socks-off fragrance.

When the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) invited some of its members to nominate their greatest garden plants some years ago, this elegant winter beauty quite rightly made the final cut, having been selected by the British garden writer, Roy Lancaster who called it “one of the most reliable and productive of winter-flowering shrubs”.

As to how one might accurately describe the distinctive scent of its winter blossoms, which can be smelt from up to 30 feet away, I’ll leave that up to Sarah Raven, another British garden writer. “Their fragrance is spicy, definitely eastern with a little citrus, without the overtones of honey or sugar. It’s strong, but not cloying, a plant perfume you’re unlikely to tire of – one of the best in the world”, wrote Raven in praise of this distinguished genus.

Better still is the fact that this winter show-stopper is not only reliably hardy down to minus 15 degrees, but is also surprisingly fast growing, long flowering (mid-January to March), needs no pruning whatsoever (in fact it actively dislikes being pruned) and will thrive either in a sunny position or even light shade. Just remember to give it a fertile, well-drained, neutral to slightly alkaline soil, and to mulch around the base of the plant to keep the roots cool and moist.

Another intensely-scented, winter-flowering shrub but one that unfortunately is rather more slow growing is wintersweet, or Chimonanthus praecox, a plant whose waxy, lemon-coloured, pendant-shaped flowers are borne on its bare stems from early winter until March.

I first came across this shrub as a student at the National Botanic Gardens, where it grew (and still grows) trained against a sunny, south-facing mellow brick wall in the Alpine yard. Even to this day I remember the thrill of discovering that those seemingly fragile flowers could not only withstand an icy frost but also delivered a whiff of spicy, aromatic perfume so heavy and so heady that it made me catch my breath.

Just like Daphne “Jacqueline Postill”, this shrub will thrive in a fertile, well-drained (but not dry) neutral or alkaline soil and is surprisingly hardy, tolerating temperatures as low as minus 15 degrees. Having said that, wintersweet will benefit hugely from the protection of a sunny wall (just like the specimen growing in the Bots), and will be far more floriferous as a result.

Other scented, perfumed and sweet-smelling glories of the winter garden include the mahonias, with their evergreen, prickled leaves and their curving racemes of vivid yellow flowers that smell so strongly of lily-of-the-valley. A stalwart of many Irish gardens until the recent spate of cold winters, their popularity has dimmed somewhat with the unhappy discovery that these evergreen shrubs are not quite as hardy as one might have hoped for (in the coldest gardens, may of them died or were badly blackened last winter). Mahonia lomariifolia is the loveliest but the tenderest, and so too much of a risk for all but the most protected of gardens, while M. aquifolium always looks a little dumpy. Instead, look out for M. japonica or any of the named Mahonia x media varieties, and give them a lightly shaded, sheltered spot in moist but well-drained, fertile soil. Expect an eventual height and spread of 12 to 15 feet.

Just as seductively perfumed but more reliably winter-hardy are the crumpled, spidery flowers of many of the witch hazels, which begin to appear as early as Christmas and continue until March. These lovely, slow-growing, winter-flowering shrubs are not as fussy as many people think, but they do require an acid to neutral, moist but free-draining soil. Look out for any of the Hamamelis x intermedia varieties – in particular those with the RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM) such as the sulphurously yellow “Pallida”, and “Arnold Promise”, the fiery “Jelena” and the copper-red “Diane”, all of which will eventually reach a height and spread of 12 to 15 feet. Even more long flowering and more tolerant of a wide range of soils and growing conditions is the deciduous shrub Viburnum bodnantense “Dawn”, while the dainty, fragrant flowers of Iris unguicularis and the sweetly-perfumed white flowers of Clematic cirrhosa var. balearica are two other joys of the scented winter garden.

But no matter which sweet smelling, winter-flowering plants you choose to grow in your garden, don’t forget to also bring a few freshly cut sprigs indoors. For whatever about the undoubted pleasures of a hand-picked bouquet of summer flowers, there’s something about a winter posy that will warm the cockles of your heart.

This week's tasks

Order seed catalogues and start making lists of which flower and vegetable varieties you’d like to grow this year

Order early varieties of seed potatoes and begin chitting them indoors to encourage a particularly early crop

Lift and divide large clumps of perennials and cut back the old or diseased foliage of hellebores

Dead-head winter bedding plants

Net brassica crops against pigeon damage and fruit bushes and fruit trees against bullfinch damage