Winter fragrance

Plant winter-flowering shrubs for fantastic scent, says Val

- Val Bourne

WE’RE in the dark days of winter and the weather can get very cold and bleak in the Cotswolds where I live. Despite that, there are early flowers around, but they’re not big and blowsy affairs. If they were, the wintry weather would reduce the petals to mush.

Early flowers need to be weather resistant and they often consist of tiny, subtle collections of stamens in equally subtle colours, including ivory-white, pallid-lemon and cool-pink. They can’t lure the pollinators in by colour or flower power, so they resort to fragrance – and that’s very pleasing for the gardener, too.

When you get a warmish January afternoon, that fragrance can carry for several yards if you’ve planted your winter-flowering shrubs in a sheltered, warm position. The first honey bees have already been lured in by the sweet perfume of winter honeysuckle, Lonicera fragrantissima, on one warm day this month. I wouldn’t be without this large shrub, because it picks so well for the house. It often displays a smidgeon of spirit-lifting green leaves and that brings spring a little nearer.