Deck the halls with homegrown holly
IN the still, cold days of winter, scent lingers, seemingly enriched by the thin air so that it hangs heavy with exoticism. None more so than the perfume produced by the small waxy blooms of Viburnum x bodnantense Dawn, which are as full of hope and promise as the bare, grey branches are not. A few stems snipped with secateurs and brought indoors will scent every inch of a room, a sleigh ride away from a cellophane-wrapped supermarket bouquet. With a little forethought, it’s quite possible to have all the Christmas decorations one could wish for growing in the garden.
‘A few stems snipped with secateurs and brought inside will scent every inch of a room’
x Dawn is ax Advent and, as long as you have good, neutral soil, witch hazels will grow well after a slow start. Their citrus and marmalade-coloured spidery flowers are completely unaffected by frost and the freesiascented Pallida is particularly lovely. Jacqueline Postill is another winter flowerer, although it can be risky to cut, so is best planted close to the house, where you can smell it as you walk past.
