They’re hardy, evergreen, fragrant, gorgeous! Some of you are familiar with Daphne ‘Carol Mackie’, a much sought-after semi-evergreen shrub with cream-edged leaves that try to be evergreen all winter but usually defoliate by February.
But there are less well-known, compact, mounding Daphne shrubs, like ‘Lawrence Crocker’ and D. neapolitanum that are much easier, completely evergreen, and even more gorgeous and fragrant, and we’ve got some very nice ones right now!
Daphne ‘Carole Mackie’ courtesy Audrey Zharkikh
Their flowers are deep pink, with copious blooms in April and sporadic rebloom in summer. We grow them in special, bottomless pots from local cuttings and sell them in the size that transplants the most successfully. They fill out surprisingly fast, to 12″ high x 24 – 36″ wide.
If you are looking for a larger Daphne shrub (mine have reached 5’ x 4’), then ‘Carol Mackie’ may be for you. She blooms in April, with clusters of small light pink flowers that perfume the garden on warm days, and bloom again sporadically through the summer. These are usually brought in from West Coast growers in 2 or 3-gallon pots, and are priced very high, but transplanting them at that size is quite risky and the plants often fail. BUT, if you start with smaller plants like the ones we grow from cuttings in 4” bottomless pots, your success is almost guaranteed. And they grow pretty fast.
We have a limited number of these choice plants available now, so come see us and ask for Mikl, Eve, Jill or Jared (they know where they’re stashed).