Wakehurst Place

Come and smell our daphne!

This is the invitation from Kew's country garden near Ardingly this month.

The Daphne bluhola at Wakehurst Place is in bloom, but it is the scent which is drawing attention.

Nadia Hurst from the Gardens’ team at Wakehurst Place samples the daphne’s strong scent.

"You will smell this plant long before you see it", says Wakehurst's Trevor Butler. “The scent is extremely strong, almost over-powering.”

In the wild, Daphne bholua grows in the Eastern Himalayas from East Nepal to Bhutan and Sikkim at altitudes of over 10,000ft and may reach 18ft or so tall. At lower altitudes as an evergreen, it is normally found at the edge of thickets but the deciduous plants at higher altitudes may be found in grassy downland-like areas.

At the 500-acre West Sussex estate daphne is planted in the winter garden beds, opposite the water gardens, in Himalayan glade and along Ladies’ Drive.

“We are getting a lot of enquiries about this winter-flowering plant”, adds Trevor. “People are travelling miles to sample the scent.”

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