One of the joys of the Botanical Garden in January is the unexpected fragrance of winter flowers. (Another is the picturesque, muffling beauty of a snowfall, but such events are notoriously difficult to predict.) We are certainly assured of mild temperatures in January, and the earliest of all winter flowering shrubs coaxed into bloom by these conditions is the aptly named winter sweet.
Chimonanthus praecox is derived from the Greek chima = winter or frost + anthus = flower and praecox = early. The species is known almost exclusively for the penetrating, spicily sweet aroma of the flowers. In a sodden Vancouver winter, the fragrance is a definite spirit-lifter. But while it’s easy to extoll the heady perfume, people seldom look so favourably on the actual look of the flowers. Indeed, the flowers might be dismissed for windblown bits of rain-soaked paper, were it not for their extraordinary olfactory charisma. The flowers are borne on stiff, pointed twigs that diverge at near right angles off of sprawling basal stems. Over time, each of these shoots develops into its own sturdy stem, with its own retinue of stiffly opposite twigs and twiglets. In smaller residential gardens, the species is known for its eye-poking, sweater-pulling habits, but given adequate elbow room, winter sweet can become a handsome brute. In the Botanical Garden, plants can be found on Upper Asian Way to the west of the Moon Gate, as well as in the Winter Garden. In autumn, the large, papery leaves turn a clear yellow before falling, and this might be considered the shrub’s best ornamental feature. Oh, but the scent of those flowers…
Submitted by Douglas Justice, Associate Director of Horticulture & Collections, December 31, 2014.