Daphne caucasica

Well, gardens in the upper midwest have definitely reached the doldrums stage, at least as far as southern Michigan. Fall color is gone, cut off early by premature snow in October and lots of wind and rain. Even the late performers, Parrotia and the japanese maples and the kousa dogwoods have lost most of their leaves. And for some reason, this year in my new garden, the numerous native witchhazels, H. virginiana, have not put on any show. A few roses have a few flowers, but not like they do in some years, given the crappy weather.

But there is one shrub in my garden, Daphne caucasica, that is blooming its little head off. Literally, in full bloom, just as it is in April and through most of the summer. I believe these are actually hybrids, not the true species, at least that's the reading I recall from Blackthorn Nursery in England by Robin White, one of the Daphne gurus of the world. I have never yet managed to find and grow the selection 'Summer Ice' which is variegated and equally good at blooming.

But the straight species/hyrbrid, whatever it is by whatever name, is sure good enough. It has the longest bloom season of any shrub in my garden, April through December anyway. And the typical Daphne fragrance too.

Here it is today in my garden, a dreary cold rainy November day. And it will still be blooming in a month unless it gets really cold.

All gardens this far north should include this wonderful shrub, an important reminder that some plants go on and defy the weather and still carry the freshness of spring.

Closer up of the flowers

Right on David--great plant. Mine is still blooming as well. I have the variegated version(Arrowhead).

Hi Kevin! Here you are on line too. Not much else happening. Last time I was at Arrowhead, in my own backyard, they didn't have summer ice. They do have a great selection of daphnes, perhaps the best in the US. I will have too look again in the spring. Their daphnes are usually tiny, but they do seem to grow pretty fast as a group of shrubs. Sun or part shade, some water, halfway decent soil is all they need. This plant is about 3' x 3' from a 1 gal. pot from Fairweather a couple of years ago. In my old place I left one closer to 4 x 5'. I am sure I will like Summer Ice but the non-variegated one is great as it is too.

The growth rate surprises me as well. Arrowhead sends small 4" tall plants in the spring, and I now have 18" tall mutli-stemmed beauties. I only see the rare 'Carol Mackie' in local nurseries, and they almost always look like hell. Arrowhead's 'Silveredge' whups 'Carol' any day. I left a huge 'Somerset' and 'Silveredge' at the front door of my old house. I am trying to recreate that here.

How would you describe the fragrance?

David,

I mourn the loss of my Daphne caucasica (straight species). I had it in really poor soil, lousy drainage, and it still managed to hang on and look great for two or three years. Writing it on my list of "must have" plants for next year. Thanks for reminding me!

Scott

My favorite fragrance. My favorite plant. I grandmother and grandfather had a very contemporary home in Atherton California. Wall to wall windows. There were louvred windows below the uppers that they could open... to let in the scent of the Daphne planted below. My favorite fragrance. The fragrance waft through the lower screens throughout the house. Did I mention that its my favorite scent?

This message was edited Nov 15, 2006 10:26 PM

Very much fragrant Viburnum-esque!

Adding to my long list. Very pretty.

this daphne is absolutely one of the best shrubs...blooming forever and (although I have lost three) probably my fault..I intend to get another.

Darn! At first I thought- this must be a northern plant since I've never heard of it . Then Lev posted she had grown it so I pulled out the manual and sure enough. Dirr says it's just as persnickety as the rest. I guess I'll have to try some form of Daphne eventually just so I'll know how to kill it.

I have not found daphnes to be persnickety shrubs at all, at least the larger shrubby types. They grow just fine in average garden soil with average water. In fact, in my experience they grow quite fast. The smaller rock garden types may be problematic, but not the bigger ones. The single biggest problem I have had with them is that they are very subject to snow damage, especially heavy, wet snow. Many of the species and hybrids, including D. caucasica, hold onto their foliage for a long time, are even semi evergreen. As a result, with the heavy wet snow, they often are subject to vertical splitting in the stems, and that is what damages them and does them in. I have learned that, after they get to be 3-4' tall, it is often good if you have the time and energy to put a few stakes around them and to tie them in a little so that if you get a very heavy snow they don't get weighted down too much. Once the stems start to get deep vertical splits, mine have declined. But in this area anyway, most of the bigger types are easy to grow and rewarding plants.

One of my favourite Dahne is D. retusa....a lovely evergreen for at least zone 5. I don't have straight caucasiaca but I do have some hybrids from it.

My son has had caucasica for about 10 years and it has always looked wonderful...just in the right place (and NO mulch)...It blooms from spring into November.

Todd - I love your pictures! thanks for sharing. :0)

Another tough one, but not as showy as caucasica, is D. alpina. Still super fragrant and nice bluish tint to the foliage later in the summer.

I've really got to scope these out for myself! Love the foliage too.

Well tell that little shrub every day how much you love her.

Here's a pic to show the later blue foliage of D. alpina. This one prouced yellow berries but they are very small and not particularly noticeable copared to February Daphne. PrairieGirl, there are many Daphne that would be hardy in your area. The challenge is finding them...they are not always easy to get.

Beuatiful Todd..I'll bet that one would not do well in Baltimore humidity.

Can you suggest a source in U.S.? Thanks.

I grew mine from seed that I got from a seed exchange..I think they came from the North American Rock Garden Society seed exchange or the Ontario Rock Garden Seed Exchange. Took four years to bloom from seed. The plant shown is now 7 years old.

Here's my newest Daphne called 'Lawrence Crocker'...pne of the darkest coloured types and quite small.

Doesn't sound like something you could find easily....beautiful. And even if you did find it ...it would most likely not survive.(at least here).

LL:

The elections are over! You don't have to go negative anymore.

I vote that we all send some shade tolerant fragrant fruiting exceptional fall color shrubs to Baltimore for evaluation (as a late birthday present).

Thanks Todd for your sharing your beautiful photos and daphne experience. Many of the plants shown by Todd are available from Arrowhead Alpines which has an excellent variety of daphnes. I have Lawrence Crocker in my garden too. I don't have a picture yet, but an excellent newer plant worth considering is 'Golddust'. It comes from the same general stock as Carol Mackie and Silveredge, but is definitely more compact and less likley to split with heavy snow. The plants I have seen growing up at Arrowhead, in sandy soil with no supplemental water, were lovely tight compact shrubs about 2 -3' tall. Nice variegation like CM but much more compact.

It seems I always want things I can't have....sorry.

http://www.arrowheadalpines.com/defg_shrub.htm

There's the list--no D. alpina though--bummer. That looks like a good one.

That article says that Dirr says to provide mulch...I have read Dirr says Mulch is the kiss of death. I don't think Dirr ever said anywhere to provide mulch.

I must say I've never mulched any of my Daphnes

It seems hard for me to believe that the overstated (I think....) " daphne death mystery " has to do with whether the plants get some mulch or not. I think if I have planted them in fairly crowded beds with relatively few weeds in the soil, I don't usually worry about mulching them (since the ground is covered by plants). In more open, barer beds which haven't yet filled in, the plants get some mulch around them. I can't see that it made any difference at all. Though I think I have killed a couple of the really dwarf types, I don't recall any time the larger shrubby daphnes did not grow. And that includes my new garden on acid sand as well as my old place on neutral to alkaline clay loam. They just don't seem that hard to grow to me.

Now Franklinia, that's another matter.....