Daphnes for Scent and Colour
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Article by: Geoff Bryant Anyone with even a passing knowledge of plants , Landscaping, An American Pass Time knows that daphnes have wonderfully fragrant flowers. , Growing Palms And because some of them - usually the most scented - flower , Grey Water- Not Drinking Water- For Your Garden in winter, , Wicker Patio Furniture or Teak Patio Furniture Look Awesome With Patio Chair Cushions they're the sort of must-have plants , 5 Easy Steps To A Successful Residential Landscaping Project. that are usually among the first planted in any new garden. , Straw Bale Culture Technique There are around 50 species of Daphne, many of which are choice garden , For The Most Luxurious Dining Outdoors: Ready Or Not, Outdoor Kitchens Are Here! specimens. They are widespread lot, ranging from Europe and North Africa to temperate and subtropical Asia. Most of them are evergreen or nearly so, but a few are deciduous, often flowering , Hydroponics Gardening - An Introduction to Hydroponics Gardening for Beginners (part 19) Soil Based before the foliage expands. The plant , Mole Myths: How Can I Get Rid of the Moles Destroying My Yard? everyone calls , New Ideas For Your Backyard Landscaping Project daphne is Daphne odora, particularly the cultivar 'Leucantha' , which is often misspelt 'Leucanthe' . This shrub, , Teak Garden Furniture a native of China and Japan, sells in vast numbers, mainly on the strength of its perfume, but also because it's a reasonably hardy evergreen bush. It grows , Color in Flowers Arrangements to around 1.5m tall with leathery, deep green , Hydroponics Gardening - An Introduction to Hydroponics Gardening for Beginners (part 19) Soil Based leaves up to 80mm long. From mid-winter on into spring , Light Up the Night! Quick Facts about Outdoor Lighting it produces clusters of small, starry, pale pink flowers. , Gardening Tips For the Beginner Several flower , This Autumn, Postpone the Winter Blues for Your Lawn and foliage forms are available and the variety with yellow-edged leaves, 'Variegata' (sometimes called 'Aureomarginata' ), is often hardier and easier to grow , Wicker Patio Furniture or Teak Patio Furniture Look Awesome With Patio Chair Cushions than the species. Daphne odora can be quite particular about soil , Order Flowers Online conditions and is slightly frost tender in cold winter , Have Year Round Color by Planting for Birds areas. It does best in cool, moist, humus enriched, well-drained, acid soil , Teak Garden Furniture in sun , Order Flowers Online or light , Planting Bare Root Roses shade. Work in plenty of compost , Wicker Patio Furniture or Teak Patio Furniture Look Awesome With Patio Chair Cushions or similar organic , Affordable Landscaping to Add Curb Appeal to Your Home matter - it's impossible to use too much - and feed regularly with liquid fertilisers and an occasional side dressing of acid fertiliser. Kept healthy, , Landscaping, An American Pass Time D. odora develops quickly and is attractive even without flowers, , The Plant Philanthropist but it isn't a long-lived bush. You can expect to have to replace it at least every 8-10 years. Because daphnes are so popular, nurseries propagate thousands of them every year. For many years the plants , Tips For Growing Beautiful House s Even If You're A Beginner were nearly all cutting-raised and with repeated propagation by this method the cutting stocks declined and became badly infected with viral diseases , Landscaping, An American Pass Time that were transmitted to their progeny. Around fifteen years ago Daphne odora 'Leucantha' was refreshed by producing new plants , Affordable Landscaping to Add Curb Appeal to Your Home by tissue culture, thereby eliminating most of the disease , Fall is the Time to Get Your Garden Trees and Shrubs Ready for Winter: Here's What to Do problems. At the time, the improved appearance of these virus-free "high-health" plants , 5 Easy Steps To A Successful Residential Landscaping Project. was remarkable. Although since then new batches of tissue cultured plants , The Flower Garden in August have been introduced, many of the original high-health daphnes were used as cutting stock and now these plants , Order Flowers Online are showing viral problems. When buying 'Leucantha' try to ensure that you get a tissue cultured plant , How to Build a Fence or a first or second generation cutting from cultured stock. Several other species are similar in appearance to Daphne odora and are well worth growing , Patio Design Expanding Your Home Outdoors as slightly different alternatives to what everyone else has. Of these, Daphne bholua and Daphne laureola are the most commonly available. Daphne bholua occurs in both deciduous and evergreen forms, but here they all seem to behave as semi-evergreens (or semi-deciduous if you like). It is shrub , Using Snow Roof Rakes up to 3m tall, sometimes rather narrow and open in habit, that like Daphne odora flowers , Miniature Roses in winter , Fall is the Time to Get Your Garden Trees and Shrubs Ready for : Here's What to Do and spring. , Order Flowers Online The flowers , How to Read a Seed Catalog are strongly scented, white-tinged-pink and open from deep pink buds. , Forcing Bulbs for Indoor Bloom: Even 'Brownthumbers' Can Do It Black fruits , Light Up the Night! Quick Facts about Outdoor Lighting (drupes) follow the flowers. , Color in s Arrangements First classified in 1825 but slow to enter cultivation, it is one of a group of four species known as paper daphnes because in their home , Uninvited Houseguests range paper and ropes were made from their bark. It was first recorded in gardens , The Secret to Pruning Apple Trees in 1938, but didn't really become at all widely grown until the late 1960s to mid 70s. Native to the eastern Himalayas, it is somewhat tougher than Daphne odora under New Zealand conditions. Though strangely, Britisrel="nofollow" hreferences often rate it as slightly less hardy. Whatever the reason for its local , Natural Pest Control On The Rise, But Does It Work? success, just be happy to know that in most of our gardens , Have Year Round Color by Planting for Birds it thrives. Daphne bholua is difficult to raise from cuttings and although it can be grafted, seed , Metal Sheds is the best method of propagation. The seed , Gardening Tips For the Beginner germinates well and while the seedlings are slow to start into strong growth, they gain vigour with age and usually flower , Have Year Round Color by Planting for Birds in their fourth year. If only for its value as a foliage plant , Straw Bale Culture Technique for dull corners, Daphne laureola could be much more widely grown. The scent is really just a bonus. You may also see Daphne pontica from the Balkans and western Asia. It too has glossy, deep green, , How to Choose the Right Bulbs for Your Spring Flower Garden leathery leaves and fragrant flowers, , Amaryllis Secrets sometimes very pale pink , Free Landscaping Ideas - How To Correctly Plant a Tree to white , Have Year Round Color by Planting for Birds but usually a light , The Plant Philanthropist green shade and fragrant. Iron chlorosis is a potential problem with all of these dark green, , 5 Easy Steps To A Successful Residential Landscaping Project. large-leaved, evergreen daphnes. When chlorotic, their foliage yellows, though the veins tend to remain green. , Vegetable Container Gardening The answer is to mulch well and to occasionally drench the soil , Hot New Sunflowers to Grow with an iron sulphate or iron chelates solution. Use iron sulphate at the rate of around a teaspoon per litre of water. , Tips For Growing Beautiful House Plants Even If You're A Beginner Other daphnes are quite different and may not be what you'd expect if you're familiar with only Daphne odora. The most widely grown, Daphne Γβ burkwoodii, isn't a species but a hybrid between Daphne cneorum and Daphne caucasica. It is a twiggy, densely foliaged evergreen or semi-evergreen bush with matt mid-green foliage and masses of small, fragrant, pink flowers , Get your Garden Cooking with Friable Soil in spring. , Grey Water- Not Drinking Water- For Your Garden The variegated foliage forms, such as 'Carol Mackie', are probably more widely grown than the plain species and have the advantage of being more colourful when not in flower. , Gardens Several other species, such as Daphne cneorum, Daphne retusa, Daphne collina and Daphne Γβ neapolitana are similar in general appearance but vary in size and flower , Have Year Round Color by Planting for Birds colour. The smallest of the readily available species is the rock daphne (Daphne cneorum). It grows , Teak Garden Furniture to about 20cm high Γβ 60cm wide and has the reputation of being a difficult plant , Light Up the Night! Quick Facts about Outdoor Lighting to cultivate well, although it's definitely worth trying. The form 'Eximea' is a sturdier than the species. Excellent drainage, shelter from really hot summer , The Plant Philanthropist sun and some winter , Forcing Bulbs for Indoor Bloom: Even 'Brownthumbers' Can Do It chilling seem to be the keys to success. The exquisite dwarf Daphne arbuscula is a much sought after rockery species with small, evergreen, leathery, deep green , How to Build a Fence leaves and fragrant, bright pink flowers. , Improve Your Yard and Garden With an ATV Plow It grows , Get your Garden Cooking with Friable Soil to about 15cm high Γβ 25cm wide and is one of the best and easiest to grow , Using Snow Roof Rakes of the small daphnes, yet it's hardly ever seen in the nurseries and garden , Waterfalls centres. It's a superb plant , Enhance Your Walk-Through Garden with Wind Chimes with all the merits of the rock daphne and few of its faults, being relatively undemanding about soil , Improve Your Yard and Garden With an ATV Plow type and very hardy. If pollinated, its flowers , Growing Palms are followed by small, greyish drupes, which while scarcely a feature, , Metal Sheds contain a single seed , Hot New Sunflowers to Grow that germinates quite freely if stratified for a few weeks before sowing. Alternatively, sow the seed , The Secret to Pruning Apple Trees in autumn , Have Year Round Color by Planting for Birds in a cool place outdoors, , Cannibals on the Porch which should provide the necessary chilling. Layers and semi-ripe spring , Hydroponics Gardening - An Introduction to Hydroponics Gardening for Beginners (part 19) Soil Based cuttings will root , Why Bonsai Beginners Love Baby Jade but can take quite a while to strike. The deciduous species are a group that is quite distinct from the others. When in leaf, the most common species, D. mezereum, could perhaps be mistaken for Daphne Γβ burkwoodii, but it's easily distinguished by its habit of flowering , Hydroponics Gardening - An Introduction to Hydroponics Gardening for Beginners (part 19) Soil Based on bare wood , Order Flowers Online in late winter , Affordable Landscaping to Add Curb Appeal to Your Home and early spring. , What Are the Appropriate Plants for My Landscape Both white- and pink-flowered forms are available. Many connoisseurs regard Daphne genkwa as the most desirable deciduous species. It too blooms before its foliage develops and the flowers , Improve Your Yard and Garden With an ATV Plow are lavender and quite large. Although only slightly fragrant, the flowers , Miniature Roses are very delicate and pretty. One of this bush's attractions is its young foliage. This, and the new growth, are covered in a fine down, which combined with their coppery colour , How to Build a Fence make them very appealing. Propagation difficulties keep Daphne genkwa a fairly rare plant. , The Flower Garden in August Occasionally you'll come across beautiful , Teak Garden Furniture species that make you wonder why we don't grow , Gardening Tips For the Beginner a wider range of daphnes. Daphne longilobata from Tibet and Yunnan is a favourite of mine. It's not a super-fancy plant , Hot New Sunflowers to Grow and its flowers , Order s Online are small, white , Get your Garden Cooking with Friable Soil and only slightly scented, but it appeals to me. Likewise Daphne giraldii, which, while rather more conspicuous in bloom because of its fragrant, bright yellow flowers, , Amaryllis Secrets relies on subtler charms for its appeal. Many of the less common daphnes make marvellous garden , The Plant Philanthropist plants but they're seldom seen in cultivation. Some, such as Daphne blagayana, are well worth trying and avaiable with some effort, but others, like Daphne tangutica and Daphne jasminea, are very hard to find and might reward someone enterprising enough to try and popularise them. Until then we should be grateful for the wonderful plants , New Ideas For Your Backyard Landscaping Project we already have, which themselves could be much more widely and imaginatively used. What's in a name?The name Daphne is a classic example of how confusing it would be if we relied on common names to identify plants. , The Secret to Pruning Apple Trees Daphne was a nymph of Greek Mythology who changed herself into a laurel to escape rape by Apollo. All rather dramatic, but what has a laurel to do with a daphne you may ask. Well, not much, though Daphne laureola is commonly known as the Spurge Laurel. That's presumably because of its large, evergreen leaves, otherwise Daphne as a genus has little to do with Laurus.I mentioned that Daphne bholua is one of a group of four Himalayan species that were used to produce paper. Looking at the bush that might seem unlikely, but several other genera of the wider daphne family, the Thymelaeaceae, are also used for paper production. Edgeworthia is probably the best known, and in another example of a confusing common name, it is sometimes known as Paper Mulberry, despite being unrelated to the Mulberry (Morus), which is itself used for paper production.I am a garden , Have Year Round Color by Planting for Birds book author and horticultural photographer based in Christchurch, New Zealand. I run a stock photo library called Country, Farm , Metal Sheds and Garden , Amaryllis Secrets (http://www.cfgphoto.com). This article may be re-published provided this information , Straw Bale Culture Technique is published with it and is clearly visible. |
  
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