Fragrant Winter Shrubs

Many garden lovers detest the cold, dreary days of winter. We use the winter months to hibernate with a cup of tea and a stack of garden-related books and magazines. But the promise of fragrance in the winter landscape can pique your interest and roust you outdoors in search of fragrant winter-blooming shrubs. Perhaps you may even decide to add them to your own landscape!

First up is fragrant wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox), heavy with medium-hued yellow buds and tepals just beginning to show the promise of fully formed cup-shaped flowers. If you are not familiar with the term tepals, it means that the petals and sepals are not separately identifiable. In late January, you will find that the scent is light and slightly sweet with a subtle lemon tone. Wintersweet is native to China, where its sweetly scented 1" flowers are used as a key ingredient in potpourri and essential oils. The scent grows stronger as the flowers come into full bloom in February and March in zones 7 - 9. The fully formed flowers can be white with a yellow sheen or golden yellow, each with purplish to brown centers. The dark brown bark provides a nice frame for the flowers. This sun-loving, slow-growing shrub grows to a height of 10-15' and likes to spread to a width of 8-12' in moist soil. It makes a good hedge, attracts pollinators and songbirds, and has no serious insect or disease problems.

Another shrub to consider is witch hazel (specifically Hamamelis x intermedia and Hamamelis mollis) and paperbush (Edgeworthia chrysantha), which can be seen in bud and bloom during February and March at local botanic gardens.

The unique fragrances of witch hazel (Hamamelis x intermedia and H. mollis) have been described as ranging from mild to highly fragrant and similar to the scent of freesia. H. mollis is the more fragrant of the two species. These sun-loving plants are readily recognizable by their showy spider-like flower petals in a spectrum of color from light yellow to orange to deep copper and with deep red calyces. Witch hazel performs well as an attractive specimen plant as a hedge or in a border. It will reach a height and width of 8-12' if grown in acidic, organically rich, well-drained soil. Hamamelis mollis grows slightly larger to 15'. If considering witch hazel for your garden, plan to prune it in spring after flowering to control its spread by root suckers and review for problems with known garden pests and diseases. As a point of interest, you may be familiar with witch hazel due to its use in cosmetics and lotions.

Of the three plants featured in this article, paperbush (Edgeworthia chrysantha) is the most highly fragrant. Observers note that the spicy gardenia-like scent will greet you before you actually see the shrub itself. This winter beauty produces clusters of 1 to 1 ½ yellow florets in umbelliferous flower heads, making it easily identifiable compared to wintersweet and witch hazel. Paperbush is a deciduous well-branched shrub that performs well in moist, humus-rich soil in woodlands or shady borders where it reaches a height and width of 4-6'. Like wintersweet, it has no serious insect or disease problems. As a point of interest, the inner bark is used in Japan to make Japanese banknotes.

Magical moments in a garden setting sometimes occur when least expected. Add these fragrant winter shrubs to your garden to remind you that spring is right around the corner.