Oh Daphne! You Made it to the Party!

One of the joys of Portland gardening is knowing in February you will have deliciously lemon Pledge scented Daphne flowers to enjoy.

They bring life and fragrance back to the garden, something that every gardener treasures in early spring, just when bulbs begin popping their heads out of the soil and the gardener's soul stirs.

This has been a rough winter for Daphne, testing their tenacity as beloved garden shrubs. I suspect there are going to be a lot of "fugly" Daphne in Portland for a time, until they can all recover from their winter beat down.

At the Lents Farmer, Daphne odora 'Marginata' and Daphne odora 'Zuiko Nishiki' both took big hits.

After the first round of cold (10° F degrees for several days), 'Marginata's leaves turned a lovely shade of black and fell off. Perhaps 'Zuiko Nishiki's home under the Black Walnut kept it a little less exposed?!?  Both plants managed to keep their flower buds through the second round of snow and ice. 

'Zuiko Nishiki' leaves seem to have survived slightly better than 'Marginata', but 'Marginata's buds fared a little better. There is always a trade off I guess.

Daphne odora 'Marginata'

Daphne odora 'Marginata' 

Daphne odora 'Zuiko Nishiki' 

Daphne odora 'Zuiko Nishiki' - Slight damage to the buds.

The baby Daphne x houtteana 'February Plum" lost most of it's pretty purple leaves and looks sad, but it is going to make it. The stems have plenty of new leaf buds sprouting on them.

 

The much taller Daphne bholua lost all of it's leaves and flower buds after the first round of cold.  The stems seem to still be alive and not cracked. (fingers crossed).

Daphne bholua after the first storm.

Daphne bholua after the second storm.

Daphne x transatlantica 'Eternal Fragrance' did perfectly well and still blooms almost non-stop most of the year. The biggest problem with this one seems to be in the summer with caterpillars eating and living in the branch tips. 

Daphne x transatlantica 'Eternal Fragrance'

Daphne x transatlantica 'Eternal Fragrance'

Daphne genkwa still looks like a stick plant. It is a 3-4' decidious shrub with slender branches. The not so fragrant flowers are lilac colored and produced in May before the leaves come out. Right now the buds seem to be plumping up. There were many of these in the display gardens at the Yard, Garden and Patio show. 

Daphne genkwa (Lilac Daphne 芫花) - all the leaves on the ground belong to the sad Bottlebrush to the left.

In a related note - Edgeworthia chrysantha (Paper Bush), a deciduous Daphne relative, didn't even blink once during the cold and is currently blooming like crazy.