The bleak end of winter can bring the coldest weather, the gloomiest skies and the sinking feeling that spring is never coming back. This time of year can also bring some moments of joy and hope – in surprising ways. Something that never fails to lift my spirits are plants with winter blossom. The fact that so many of them are scented is truly heart-warming.
Winter blooms have a quiet beauty, peeking out from under evergreen foliage, or bravely emerging along bare stems. They are small in size, because delicate petals are easily damaged by harsh weather, and pale in colour, because the few tough little insects that eke it out through the winter are less impressed by colour than summer pollinators. So the flowers won’t be showy – in fact we may not notice them at all until, like many a beetle or early emerging bee, we are drawn in by a delicious scent in the wintry air.

Scented Shrubs

If you have the space for a specimen, maybe grow a Witch Hazel – Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Pallida’ has scented flowers that climb its bare branches like little yellow spiders, but there are others – in shades of Orange – try H. Jelena, or the warming red of the cultivar ‘Ruby Glow’. These deeper shades have good autumn foliage too, which helps to redeem the other eight months of plain green leaf.
Intense perfume is emitted by Daphne odora ‘Aureomarginata’. Daphnes can be a little fussy – I call them ‘Goldilocks’ plants, but this one is supposed to be slightly less sulky – and also Viburnum bodnantense ‘New Dawn’. They may be harder to wear, but their fragrance will rival many a scent from the perfume counter.
Skimmias are known for their deep red winter buds and are often on sale as container plants around Christmas, but there are

some less showy cultivars that pack more of a fragrance punch once the pretty buds open. Skimmia ‘Kew Green’ is an old favourite, but the most scented is probably the aptly named ‘Fragrant Cloud’. They will grow into neat evergreen domes and will grow in the shadiest corners of the garden.
Two larger shrubs that are straggly nothings in summer, but not to be without at this time of the year, are the Winter Sweet – Chimonanthes praecox and Lonicera ‘Winter Beauty’, a winter flowering honeysuckle. Both of these have small, highly fragrant, pale yellow or cream flowers. These hardy shrubs will cope in most conditions, but perhaps best planted where they can be appreciated in winter, and then fade into the background once the flowers are over.
There is a neat trick you can do with some of the early flowering shrubs.

They don’t have to be any of the ones I’ve mentioned, but they should have buds on. If there’s nothing scented around, try forsythia, pussy willow or even blackthorn from the hedgerow. Bring in a few small budding twigs, place in a vase of water and watch. Almost before your eyes (but in reality it will take a few hours) the tight buds will burst into bloom, fooled into blossoming by the sudden warmth of your living room.

Where to grow them

When you’re adding winter interest to your borders, it makes sense to position the plants where you can enjoy them. Let’s face it, it’s hard enough to go out at all in the winter, let alone go for a stroll around the garden. Something scented or a dazzling, but minute beauty will be wasted in the far reaches. Plant them where they can fade into the background once the flowers are over, but near enough for you to catch their exquisite fragrance – ideally by the door, or in the front garden, where you will walk past them regularly, or where they can be seen from the window. Scented plants should also be planted in a sheltered position, as this will ensure that their fragrance will linger for longer. Many of these early bloomers are woodland plants. They will need a humus rich, semi-shaded position. Protection from harsh winter winds will help the plants and trap the fragrance. Add organic matter, or better still, leaf mould and try to mimic a gentle woodland environment.

Check the pH of your soil – some woodland plants prefer an acid soil, but there are plenty that will thrive in more neutral soils – and a few toughies – like those in the viburnum family, mahonias and low growing, but powerfully scented, Sarcoccoca confusa, that won’t mind where you plant them.

Companion plants

Ground cover is key to preventing weed growth around the base of larger plants and will help to enhance the effects. Carpet the ground beneath winter shrubs with drifts of early bulbs and low growing perennials that will disappear into their summer sleep once the canopy of leaves comes out. Woodland bulbs like snowdrops, crocuses, and aconites will quickly spread and naturalise, hellebores, bergenias and epimediums provide evergreen leaves and late winter/early spring blooms, Euonymus fortunii, Pachysandra terminalis and heucheras will carpet the ground around the shrubs with tough and attractive evergreen foliage. Try heathers in acidic soil, or for maximum contrast, clumps of an evergreen grass like Carex ‘Evergold’ or the striking black of Ophiopogon grass.

Pots of Fragrance

Many of these early performers are suitable for growing in containers, in fact if you don’t have the right ‘edge of woodland’ conditions, something like a camellia may even prefer it, needing a sheltered spot and acid soil to grow in.

Scented narcissi are perfect for pots, their compact size make them an ideal choice for small spaces like patios, doorways, and balconies, where they’ll create a charming, naturalistic display. Narcissus ‘Minnow’ is a dwarf variety that produces clusters of creamy yellow flowers with a gentle fragrance. N. ‘Hawera’ is a graceful, multi-headed daffodil with nodding, pale yellow flowers and a sweet scent. The great thing about a plant in a pot is that it can be moved away from centre stage once it has done its thing – if you can move it, that is, and provided that you don’t then shove it somewhere out of the way and forget about it.
February can be a changeable beast, its periods of ‘false spring’ beguiling us and luring innocent plants into growth with a few warmish, sunny days, only to ambush them with snow, freezing their roots off for the rest of the (thankfully short) month. By the middle of February though – whatever the weather – we’ll have noticeably longer, lighter days, and with increasing light, new shoots to celebrate. It may be cold and we’re still inside more than we are out, but things are happening and nature is getting ready for its spring show. Enjoy the quiet changes, the first flowers and fragrances. Not long to go now.

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