Hi y'all! Sorry I've been gone so much, I miss everyone! Hope you don't mind if I hog a thread to myself, I just want to show off a little, lol!
Daphne's & more...
My Varigated Pink Daphne is growing a bit slower than the white, but still so delicious! Who says you can't find good cheap plants at Home Depot?
The white is really going to town. These are now 2 years in my garden and are doing much better than I could have dreamed of.
Winter Honeysuckle is also going to town with it's lemony fragrance more noticeable when the sun is out. My cuttings didn't make it, so I hope the buried branches on the plants do--I have 2 of these now getting very large--hopefully large enough for plenty of cuttings early spring!
Anticipation... This is a fragrant Camellia named "High Fragrance" (yes, I have 2 of these also, lol) and cannot wait for blooms! One is in the ground but I brought this one inside due to the low temps coming soon.
This is also a great time to remind everyone to visit your Botanical Gardens to find the Camellias in bloom--their peak is in February (a great trip for Valentine's Day) where I got mine last year. For those of you in GA, Massey Lane Gardens is a wonderful place to see, the place is edged with Daphne and is extremely a fragrant fairytale visit!
Ohhhh I can smell them from here!!! Home Depot!?!?! You're kidding me?!?!?
Would I kid you my friend? 2 years ago the Daphnes were somewhere between $8 & $13 and in bloom. Let's face it, how many of us visit HD & Lowes in the winter? My white has tripled in size!
I'm telling you my HD and Lowes don't carry good stuff. Heck even Joe in Ohio finds good stuff at HIS stores. Geez...what do I find? Nothing...absolutely nothing...mine are in cahoots with USPS so I will, for all eternity, be stuck with s/h fees...LOL
BTW...checking out my HD and Lowes tonight "just in case" and now you're making me rethunk my thoughts on the winter honeysuckle...esp after reading Glenns description....ugh
Not fair....I'm so jealous...I went to Home Depot about 3 weeks ago and asked if they had any Daphne's and they said..."What's that!" can you believe it. I know they are not a common plant down here in Florida. I grew one when I first moved here and the smell was one of my favorites, sadly it was one of my first so I put it in heavy soil in a pot and it died of root rot.
I picked up one last year from Bluestone but it's tiny still, hopefully next winter it will bloom for me.
Thank you for sharing the photos, they truly are beautiful.
Can ya'll try to describe the fragrance of Daphne?
For me it's almost an intense baby powder scent...probably sounds like an oxymoron description but that's what I remember.
Gosh I hate the cloying scent of Baby Powder, lol, and loath when that term is used especially with brugs (No offense Chantell).
Daphe is super sweet like a delicious unknown strong spicy perfume-like candy-not fruity. All I can say is YUM! When at Massey Lane Gardens the scent permeated the air thruout the gardens. I WILL be going to those gardens again soon and hope to show you how they look as a hedge, just wish I could capture the scent as well.
Do you find that all daphne's smell as good? My mother had a daphne bush when I was growing up, and when I bought my first house, she gave me one of my own. I've since moved and cannot find that same variety, all I can find is the Carol Mackie. Mine was very low growing, solid green evergreen needles, almost bubble gum pink blossoms that bloomed without fail around Mother's Day in Massachusetts, with a heavenly fragrance that you could smell before you saw the plant. It looks like I may have to settle for another variety since I can't find one that looks like that, and I'm wondering if the fragrance will be as good.
Needles or leaves? My leaves are evergreen but varigated. Carol Mackie didn't do well for me, I tried two different ones but perhaps it was the heat down here. She does have the tag of being tempermental. I do believe that she was not as fragrant as the ones I have now--of course, the scent is doubled with the size of my bushes, lol.
As I had said, I plan to visit Massey Lane again and will try to find their name, I can't recall if they were variagated or not-duh. Will post here for you.
Alright now Vi...I tried...give me kudos for that..LOL. It IS what it reminds me of though, at first sniff...then I catch the spiciness of it....ahhhh....I LOVE the daphne fragrance!!
Cindy - maybe Vi can tell you hear experience. The ones I've been around seem to all have about the same scent...but then again I've not had varieties close to one another to compare. Going by memory which is scary in itself...LOL
LOL - crossed posted w/Vi
This message was edited Jan 18, 2009 10:57 AM
Actually, this thread got me to do a little searching on the internet and I found a variety called cneorum which appears to be the one I remember. I just ordered it from gardengrower.com, so I have my fingers crossed! I so glad there are other daphne lovers out there.
And, I guess they are leaves, but look more like needles. Definitely not leaves like in your photos, Vi
All this talk of daphnes has forced me to finally buy one. I got a wee 1-gal variegated one last weekend for $16.50 from a nice nursery----that was the cheapest one I'd seen all day. I've never seen our HD never carry anything that "exotic".
Anyway, I planted her yesterday in a container, so my fingers are crossed as well!!
Cindy, I just had to research also and found 2 different forms, which one is it?
This one? http://www.hlasek.com/Daphne_cneorum_4725.html
or this one? http://www.sunnygardens.com/garden_plants/daphne/daphne_0966.php
must be this one...http://www.gardengrower.com/product.php?productid=16190&cat=270&bestseller=Y
DG has this: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/50030/
I'll be the first to admit that I never knew of all these!
I follow all talk of Daphnes. Violabird, yours are just beautiful and I am also jealous of your HD. Ours never has any. I'll have to venture over there in this cold and see if they have anything outside.
There are actually more than 25 different varieties of Daphne Cneorum, but usually it's hard to find more than 1 to 2 varieties for sale at any given Nursery.
I grow Daphne Cneorum "Ruby Glow" which has the largest and darkest pink blooms. It is a slow grower but VERY fragrant and quite floriferous. They will bloom sporadically through out the year with a very large and long bloom in late spring.
If they don't give a cultivar name and it is pink, usually it's Daphne Cneorum Eximea. The Leila Haines, also pink is a miniature form. The varigated form has pink flowers. The other pink forms are very rare, many not being sold in the US.
I've been searching for Ruby Glow for 2 years without success. I need quite a few to complete a border that I started. Greer Gardens had 2 last year at a cost of $35 each. I have 8 that I got at different times for less than $20 each.
Here's are photos
http://www.pottertons.co.uk/pott/browse.php?folder=20
Here's a nice selection of Daphnes with an interesting opening article:
http://www.arrowheadalpines.com/defg_shrub.htm
:
So cruel to tempt me! I have to make sure I can get marginata to grow before I think about any more!!! I've heard they are tempramental here. It's very hot in the summer (routinely 107) and can get down to 18 in the winter, but usually only gets down to the low 30s. I figured putting mine in a pot would give me a little more control, but the ground cover varieties sound HEAVENLY!
I hope I ordered the right one now. Here's a photo of the one I ordered from gardengrower.com, it looks like the one I remember growing up. The other ones that you provided links to, Viola, do not look the same. Mine is called "rock daphne"
Cindy, Many of the Cneorums are referred to as Rock Daphne. They are all nice and will probably do well in your climate. I only stick to the one cultivar, because it's very pretty, does well here and matches my others. The Ruby Glow keeps it's vivid deep pink color. I personally don't care for pale pnk blooms. Here's a photo of one that I took just before Thanksgiving. It was just starting to bloom, but has been pretty frozen off and on since then.
Do the "rock daphnes" have the same wonderful scent as the regular ones?
Chantell, They have an incredible scent!!!!
Oh mercy...just when I thought i had about everything IN my yard...ugh!!! Now I've gotta go find one of those...sheesh
Ok "uncle" - where are "we" finding these pretties called Rock Daphnes...found it on plantfiles http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/50030/ (I think) but no vendors listed.
This message was edited Jan 20, 2009 12:41 AM
My goodness, we learn so much from each other! K, whoever finds it cheap must post here, lol!
Muahahahaha. Chantell, daphne "Carol Mackie" is on my list .... :P
Anyone.....???? Source for the Rock Daphne???? Yes, I'm so patient, I know.
Joe...LOL...I've got Daphne odora 'Aureo-Marginata' based on a suggestion of a friend that owns a nursery. She's still doing well...God bless her!!!
Chantell, I found it at this source someone mentioned earlier in the thread. They have a nice selection of varieties...must....re...sist...
http://www.gardengrower.com/home.php?cat=258
My bad....how'd I miss that?!? All kinds of...oh great - another site
Chantell, Rock Daphnes are often also referred to as Rose Daphnes. Maybe that will help.
stormy - have you found them to be easier...harder...or the same as growing daphnes?
Chantell, They are very easy and hardy. Just don't over water them and make sure they have good drainage and loose soil. They put on a spectacular long spring bloom, almost 2 whole months. Then they will rebloom off and on throughout the year. Summer heat will instantly kill the blooms, but they are attractive little plants without blooms. I love how they send up a surprise bloom like in mid-July, even if it only lasts a day for each bloom. They thrive on neglect.
They are short, but they can get quite wide. This summer's endless rain was tough on them. I lost my biggest one. I'm sure it was the rain, but I took it to an Arborist. He thought it was due to the voles. Being VERY familiar with vole decimated roots, I disagree.
I have them intermixed with Heathers and Miniature Azaleas and there are Bulbs and Poppies planted in between.
I'm so excited, Stormy...I have THE perfect place for one...maybe two...thank you SO much!!! It's gets bad when you start running out of either space or worse yet you have one of each of the plants (for me fragrant) you've wanted and the searching for a "new" one becomes more and more difficult. That form is exactly what I need in this one spot to the side of my stair going up to the house - unless they prefer shade...then we might have a problem.
Chantell, mine get afternoon sun from both north and west.
Excellent...yipee
Oh no....I NEED ONE TOO! lol! Is any one Daphne more fragrant than the others?
Ahhhh Roberta....there you go!!! BTW your baby...is perking up with new growth (whew!)
yeeey Chantell! Way to go! I knew she wouldn't let you down...her mama is over 10ft tall !
Roberta, It may be too warm in your zone for the Daphne Cneorum. In my area, the cooler the spring, the better and longer the main bloom. This past year it was spectacular, but when the heat wave finally and abruptly hit, the blooms died in a day.