Blowing the cobwebs away on winter walks or by pottering in the garden for an hour or two after the festive season can be all the richer if you can breathe in the rich scent of fragrant shrubs. If you’re thinking of planting a pot close to a window, where you can enjoy their colour and aroma over the cooler months, or want something which will create a scented showstopper in your beds and borders, here are five good candidates for winter scent.
1. Sarcococca confusa (sweet box). Also known as the Christmas box, this compact evergreen shrub is one of the most useful in winter, its glossy, dark green leaves forming the backdrop to the delicate fragrant flowers which emerge in late winter and early spring. Plant it in your border or in a pot close to your patio, so you can enjoy a blend of sweet and spicy scent when you open the doors.
It’s not demanding, coping well in pollution and shade, so is ideal in an urban garden in a sheltered, shady courtyard, although it won’t tolerate cold winds. The small blooms are followed by black berries. 2. Chimonanthus praecox (wintersweet). It may look a bit plain, but this deciduous shrub produces sweet-smelling, sulphur-yellow flowers on bare stems in the depths of winter, often lasting until mid-spring so it’s a plant which keeps on giving.
Ideally placed at the back of the border, its waxy, creamy yellow flowers appear on bare branches emitting a scent which hangs in the cold winter air. Cut stems and add them to indoor flower displays so you can enjoy their spicy fragrance in your home. They like a sunny spot where the shoots will ripen for flowering and make ideal wall shrubs in alkaline soil. Good varieties include ‘Luteus’.
