Gadenin日本語Get the appSite it by a door or a path, not in a far border
Wintersweet is planted for scent, and scent has to be met. The flowers are small and half-hidden on bare twigs, so a shrub twenty yards away across a lawn delivers a fraction of what the same plant gives beside a back door. Before you dig anything, walk the route you actually take in winter: to the car, to the bins, to the shed, along the path to the gate. Plant within six feet (2 m) of one of those, on the side you pass, and you will be given the scent every single day it is in flower.
Second best is under a window that you open on mild winter days, or beside a seat by the house. Worst is the back of a border you do not visit between leaf fall and spring, or the far side of a hedge. The plant will grow perfectly well there and you will get almost nothing from it.
What the right spot looks like
Beyond the question of access, wintersweet is undemanding. It wants sun for flower production, shelter so the scent lingers and the flowers are not wind-burned, and drainage. It is genuinely happy on chalk and alkaline ground, which rules out very few gardens.
| Requirement | What to aim for | What to avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Light | Full sun, or half a day of direct sun | Deep shade under trees; flowering thins badly |
| Shelter | A wall, fence or hedge on the windward side | Open, exposed corners and wind funnels |
| Soil | Any free-draining soil; chalk and alkaline are fine | Ground that stays wet for weeks after rain |
| Space | 8 to 10 ft (2.5 to 3 m) across at maturity | Squeezing it against a path it will overhang |
| Winter access | Within a few feet of a route you walk | Anywhere you do not visit in winter |
| Summer role | Behind other planting, as green background | A lone specimen in the middle of a lawn |
Ask whether it is grafted before you plant it
This is the single most useful question about a wintersweet, and hardly anyone asks it. A grafted or layered plant is made from mature wood and will usually flower within two or three years of planting. A seed-raised plant has to reach flowering maturity from scratch, and that commonly takes seven to fourteen years from germination. Both look identical in a pot.
If you are buying, ask the nursery directly and look at the base of the stem for a graft union, a slight swelling or change of angle a few inches above the soil. If you are planting one someone gave you, or one you grew from seed yourself, plant it anyway but write down what it is. Years later, when you are wondering why it will not flower, that note is the answer, and it will stop you digging up a perfectly good plant that simply is not old enough yet.
Planting, step by step
Plant while the shrub is dormant and bare, from leaf fall through to the point where buds start to swell in spring, avoiding days when the ground is frozen or waterlogged. Container-grown plants can go in at other times but will need watching for water all through their first summer.
- Check the drainage before you dig the hole Dig a hole a spade deep, fill it with water and let it drain, then fill it again. If the second fill has not gone in six hours, the site is too wet. Plant on a low mound eight inches (20 cm) high, or choose somewhere else.
- Dig wide, not deep Make the hole two to three times the width of the rootball but no deeper than the rootball itself. Loosen the sides with a fork so roots can get out. Do not dig a deep pit and backfill it loosely; the plant sinks and the crown sits wet.
- Set it at the same depth it grew The top of the rootball should sit level with the surrounding soil, and any graft union must stay clearly above ground. Lay a cane across the hole to check. Planting too deep is a common cause of slow decline in this shrub.
- Backfill with the soil you took out Use the native soil, not a rich compost mix. A pit of imported compost in heavy ground becomes a sump. Mix in a couple of handfuls of grit if your soil is sticky, firm the soil in with your heel in stages, and leave no air pockets.
- Water in and mulch Give it two full watering cans, about five gallons (20 liters), even in wet weather, to settle the soil around the roots. Then mulch two inches (5 cm) deep over the whole root area, keeping the mulch two inches clear of the stems.
- Stake only if it rocks A bushy shrub rarely needs staking. If it is tall and top-heavy on an exposed site, use a short stake angled into the prevailing wind, tied low on the stem, and remove it after one full growing season.
The first two years, walls and containers
For two full growing seasons, water a new plant thoroughly once a week through any dry spell from spring to early autumn, using five gallons (20 liters) at a time rather than a daily splash. After that it is on its own except in a late summer drought. Keep a two-foot (60 cm) circle around the base free of grass and weeds; turf competing at the base slows a young shrub badly.
Trained flat against a warm, sheltered wall, wintersweet flowers earlier and holds its scent in the pocket of still air, which is why it is a traditional wall shrub. Allow the same eight to ten feet (2.5 to 3 m) of width and tie the main stems to horizontal wires as they extend. In a container it is possible but not comfortable: use the largest pot you can handle, at least twenty inches (50 cm) across, expect a smaller plant, water it far more often than you think, and plan to move it into the ground eventually.
Assume the plant stays where you put it. Wintersweet resents being moved once established, and a shrub relocated after five years may sulk for two seasons or fail outright. Spend the extra hour choosing the spot.