Start of Love Affair With Daphne
by Sally Gregson

DAPHNES are not plants you can take lying down. They either inspire awe and admiration, or they invoke wrath and indignation, according to your relationship with them.
Sometimes you buy them, prepare the soil and plant them with loving tenderness. They flower, you gasp, they expire. Your friend, who bought one at the same time, planted his, it flowered, it flourished, and it grew with gusto. You surmise that daphnes don’t like you.

But that would be unfair. Daphnes can be a little fussy, but with care and attention they will give of their best to you, too. Firstly, they are not entirely happy to be kept in a pot for any longer than necessary. It is important to plant them out as soon as possible: they are especially vulnerable to overwatering or drought. A specialist nursery will ensure that its loam-based potting compost is as similar to garden soil as possible so that the roots will make the transition without a check.

If you have had a bad daphne experience, or if you think your site is not quite ideal, choose a variety that is easier to grow, such as Daphne tangutica. This makes a small, rounded, evergreen shrub about 1m (3ft) in height that produces lots of pink and white flowers in spring with that typical, orange-blossom sweet scent. This species has a certain will to live.

Planting

Choose a site with loamy soil that is either alkaline or acid, but essentially one that drains: daphnes dislike damp soil especially in winter. Incorporate garden compost into the planting hole and mulch it well, leaving a space around the stem.

Raising from seed

Most of the named cultivars of daphne are grafted onto the rootstock of D. tangutica, although some will root as cuttings. However a few of the species can be grown successfully from seed. Although the pretty, orange-red berries are highly toxic to humans, they are caviar to thrushes, so the seed reappears cleaned of the fruit and wrapped in its own ball of nutrients. It’s always worth hand weeding around daphnes with added vigilance. Dig up any seedlings carefully and pot them individually, taking care not to overwater. Plant them in their final positions as soon as you can.

Varieties to try

Once you are confident that the daphne curse is lifted, and you are thoroughly hooked on their charms, it is time to try some more. The secret of success lies in choosing the right daphne for the right place. Some species grow naturally in stony soil: Daphne mezereum can be found on limestone screes and scrubland, mostly in northern Europe. It will tolerate a little light shade. Other species come from the leafy soil and light shade of woodland conditions. These include some of the most sought-after varieties such as D. jezoensis with scented, yellow flowers in autumn and winter, and the cultivars of D. odora whose name says it all.

Daphne bholua comes from the rhododendron forests of Uttar Pradesh, and the mountains around Khatmandu. D. bholua Gurkha is an especially hardy form. It flowers very early in the year, occasionally in time for Christmas. Its pink and white flowers have the headiest perfume that carries across the winter garden on a bright, crisp morning.

Most of the cultivars are evergreen, so they do need protection from the winds, especially from the north and east. They also prefer their roots to be shaded, so they would be ideal planted among other shrubs or evergreen perennials, or under a tree with a light canopy such as silver birch, sorbus, or cherry. As the flowers fade on D. bholua, it tends to shed most of its leaves and looks as though it needs watering. It does not. In its own time it will send up more shoots and start to form next year’s flowers, ready to send you into a spin next spring.