A few fine days brought even the reluctant gardeners outside. Some will have no truck with the garden until spring is well on the way, and consider space and effort given to the earliest plants rather a waste: Instead they concentrate all efforts' on later spring and early summer.
A joy for the early birds is the array of scented plants that add so much extra pleasure to time spent outdoors. Some quite ordinary things like Mahonia aquifolium, commonly called Oregon grape, acquit themselves very well as winter turns to spring. A suckering evergreen with spiny holly like leaves, it is an easy shrub for a poor place. In shade of a wall or under deciduous trees it is a useful filler which shines in February and March. Now it shows dense racemes of yellow scented flowers which will be followed later by dark blue berries. Not many gardeners bother with this shrub, which grows about five or six feet high. Where space is at a premium we will find superior occupants.
It is worth noting a good form of Malionia aquifollum, "Smaragd", which is much more compact. The bright yellow flowers are very showy. This one is sometimes used in amenity planting in public areas which may be taken as a tribute to its vigour and versatility.
A real aristocrat of the early spring shrub selection is the Himalayan Daphne bholua, a real eye and nose catcher in February and March, when its intensely scented flowers draw wondering comments from passersby. This is a refined and neat grower, so even a small garden could accommodate it and the proud gardener could bask in the reflected glory of the Daphne.
There are two forms readily available, a deciduous and an evergreen. The evergreen is considered to be slightly superior and is named Jacqueline Postill because of the harder midland winters. Gurkha is quite content here and after six years is almost as many feet high. The flowers, purple pink, are produced on the bare stems and the only pity is that heavy rain and gales can rattle the blooms.
You won't usually find it in the bargain section of garden centres, but few will ever regret spending a bit extra on such a luxury. Daphnes like good drainage and generally prefer a sunny aspect. Some light summer shade will not bother them. What they do not like is root disturbance, so select the planting site carefully, plant it well, and leave it. Daphnes are not plants to go moving about or rearranging.
I am not sure about the longevity of Daphne bholua and any propensity it may have to die when in its prime. This is often the case with the more common Daphne mezereum, which can be all health and happiness one day and then quite suddenly for sheer badness will die. I refer to it as being common in the nicest sense. A deciduous shrub of neat rounded habit, it rarely reaches more than three or four feet in height and spread. The flowers appear in profusion clustered along the bare stems and are richly scented. Flower colour is pink to pinkish purple or creamy white.
Happily, Daphne mezereum will seed itself, so if an older plant ups and dies annoyingly there may be a young successor lurking in the undergrowth. It is important to, move such seedlings to a permanent home sooner rather than later. That is, if they must be moved. Berries appear after the flowers and it is worth remembering that these, like all other parts of the plant, are highly toxic.