Purple Wellies

One woman's musings of plant lust for intoxicating blooms

Will you be my Valentine?

Today the first flowers started to open on one of my dearest plants – Edgeworthia chrysantha. I’ve had one for seven years now growing against one of the rear house walls, my husband having brought it for me shortly before our son was born for a Valentine’s Day present.

Young plants, as mine first did, will on arrival resemble a brown twig with cream notches down it. Concealing its appeal from all that see it except for those very much in the gardening know. A relative of the Daphne, this is not a plant for the novice; a particular tricky customer to grow, requiring moist but well-drained humus-rich, loamy soil and a sheltered location of a wall or woodland edge setting.

Given the right conditions this ‘twig’ will go on year upon year to get bigger (up to 2 metres) and better, blossoming into a beautiful shrub. Flower buds form on the tips of branches in clusters. These branches are extremely supple and can be tied in knots as is stated in the few gardening books you may find it listed in, though why on earth you would want to do this I will never know! It is not the way to treat such a highly prized shrub. And it is just that having been cultivated in Japan for a long period of time, for which it is used in the manufacture of high-class paper for currency.

Dense, nodding, scented flowers covered with white-silky hairs start to open in late winter and mine was still going strong in late March last year. These are then followed by dark green leaves.

Along the same stretch of wall sits Edgeworthia chrysantha ‘Winter Liebe’ which supposedly has a better branching structure, although currently I don’t see much evidence of this. Slightly further in the shade this one flowers later for me, prolonging the delight further. Both of these have yellow flowers. For a short while they did also have a racy, orange-red flowered companion in the form of ‘Red Dragon’, but alas that was to be but a short fling. Perhaps one day I will try this again, but for the time being the pain of losing it is still bitter-sweet. I’ll admire you from afar, but for now my adoring eyes fall upon my first true love of Edgeworthia chrysantha.
Posted: 30/01/2017 20:16:17 by Pamela Barden