Two plants are featured in this edition.

by Rick Los, Director of Horticulture

Dwarf Sweet Box Sarcococca hookeriana var. humilis Synonym: Sarcococca humilis

 I was first introduced to this beautiful dwarf evergreen close to 20 years ago and I’m still as impressed with it today as I was during that first encounter. I’ll call it an encounter because it wasn’t the looks of this plant that first caught my attention, but it was the wonderful fragrance that swept me off of my feet in the middle of January. Let’s face it, there is not a lot growing in the garden in January and something that provides a beautiful fragrance is certainly worth special attention.

Dwarf Sweet Box is a member of the Boxwood family and is native to southeast Asia. It is a choice groundcover that provides interest in the garden throughout the year with its attractive dark green leaves and tiny white flowers that provide that wonderful early season fragrance. The small dark blue berries are rather insignificant and ironically the Latin name Sarcococca comes from a word meaning “fleshy berry” in Greek. This makes me think the botanists didn’t pay too much attention to this plant when they chose its name.

This is a tough little plant suited for almost all garden conditions with the exception of fully exposed, hot, sunny locations. It can grow in difficult shady locations and only requires additional water during periods of prolonged drought. The plant spreads slowly by rhizomes and can easily be divided or grown from seed. You can find this unassuming plant in many areas around The Gardens, but we have typically planted them near the edges of pathways for the best effect. The sweet fragrance will catch your attention before you actually see the plant and it still amazes me this little plant can provide such a big impact in a winter garden.

Common Snowdrops Galanthus nivalis

One of the most overlooked and probably unappreciated plants in the winter garden is the common snowdrop. Snowdrops are somewhat modest and unassuming as they don’t provide us with the same brilliant colour of early spring bulbs such as crocus, scilla or chionodoxa. However, they seem to be a little more durable and they provide us with the hope that spring is very near once they emerge from the cold and sometimes even snowy ground.

Snowdrops are members of the Amaryllis family and are native to Europe and western Asia. When you think of Amaryllis you typically think big, but these are delicate little plants growing no more than 1 foot in height. The flowers consist of six white petals (actually tepals http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tepal ) with the 3 inner petals being shorter and usually marked with a greenish tip. The flowers are very attractive if you take the time to get up close and take notice of them.

All Snowdrop species prefer a location either fully or partly sunny and they require well drained yet adequately moist soil conditions. They are great as a naturalizing plant and can be easily propagated by seed or by dividing the clumps of bulbs when they are green or dormant.

One of the benefits of planting Snowdrops, as opposed to some of the other early flowering bulbs, is pests such as squirrels leave them alone as the bulb is somewhat toxic. Although the other species of Snowdrop may be larger and showier, I still think the common Snowdrop can proudly take its place in any garden setting where you are looking for a reliable performer to give you an early taste of spring.