Tag Archive for: daphne

Why we love Daphne Perfume Princess

why we love Daphne Perfume Princess
Most people spot Daphne Perfume Princess™ because of the massive flowers.

Let’s be honest… it’s easy to see why we love Daphne Perfume Princess. She’s a gorgeous, heady-scented Daphne and there is absolutely no way anyone could describe her as fine-framed or fussy. If you see a Daphne Perfume Princess™ growing alongside a traditional daphne you will be shocked: she looks like a buff supermodel sitting beside a seven year old wannabe ballerina.

Daphne Perfume Princess™ is an unapologetically lush, dense bush with larger leaves, larger scented flowers and more of them. It’s also ridiculously easy to grow since it thrives without any effort from us. When you know all this, it’s not hard to understand why this plant is massively popular, thanks to…

1: Those big flowers… which really are huge, being four times bigger than an old fashioned Daphne. Not only are the flowers themselves larger but they also grow along the stems in clusters. And while we usually enjoy Daphne over a few weeks in late winter, Daphne Perfume Princess produces her flower show from mid winter through to late spring. Strangely she sometimes flowers at other times – which is a bonus – but regardless of when, the Daphne Perfume Princess scent is heady, glorious and with a citrus undertone.

why we love Daphne Perfume Princess
Ok, this is a picture of a bush – a very nice, dense green bush. But what’s special about this bush is that it is actually a Daphne but obviously not an old-style straggly Daphne. And that’s because this is the all-new, improved and totally wonderful Daphne Perfume Princess™.

2: Those big leafy bushes. It’s a good idea to pay attention to how any plant in your garden looks all year around. Who wants an awkward, rangy plant with sparse foliage when you can have the same Daphne perfume hit from a better all-rounder plant? This is especially true when it comes to Daphne because we tend to plant them where we can smell them: near the front door or beside a garden bench. And since these positions are usually very visible, having a lushly foliaged green bush to look at rather than the usual underwhelming old style Daphne is a plus.

why we love Daphne Perfume Princess
Look at this little fellow. So young and still such a go-getter. Just look at all those roots and a flower! No guesses what this Daphne is: Daphne Perfume Princess™.

3: That lust for life. Daphne Perfume Princess is precocious – a fast developer. The nurserymen who produce these plants see this daily in the way young plants leap out of their pots ahead of other Daphne varieties, or even spring into flower when they are still juvenile. These plants get on with the business of growing into lusty, healthy flower swamped bushes from the absolute get-go. And they do it with very few demands on us. Water a new plant in once you’ve planted it, and then when it finishes flowering, throw a handful of slow release fertiliser around the base of the plant … if you remember.

5 tips for picking the best plants

5 tips for picking the best plants
Follow these 5 tips for picking the best plants and you’ll easily spot the plants that will never disappoint, like this mop top Hydrangea Tuxedo®.

Have you ever bought something only to realise later at home that it’s a bit ordinary? It happens to us all the time simply because retailers do a great job making everything look fantastic and ‘must-have’. The same rule applies to plants: it’s too easy to grab a pretty little thing from the garden centre that ends up being disappointing. To prevent this ever happening again, arm yourself with these 5 tips for picking the best plants…

1. Look at the flowers: which you probably are anyway as most plants will be on sale at a time when they are in flower and looking their best. Ask yourself, is the flower interesting? Are there a lot of them on the plant and are there lots of unopened buds (aka future flowers)? Is there something special and different about the flower? Like lace cap Hydrangea Strawberries & Cream®; the mega-flowered Daphne Perfume Princess™; or the spotted throat of Alstroemeria Rock & Roll®. If you manage to tick just two of these boxes, you’ve found something that will hold its own once it arrives back at your place.

5 tips for picking the best plants
The flower needs to be special: Daphne Perfume Princess™ has the biggest, most glorious flowers around.
5 tips for picking the best plants
This close-up of Strawberries & Cream® hydrangea shows how much more a plant can give when it has lots of flowers and they’re interesting.

2. Look at the leaves: there aren’t many plants that flower all the time so it makes sense to check out the foliage. Again, ask yourself, what’s interesting about the leaves? Their color, shape, texture? If the plant has a good shape as well then it will keep you smiling year round. A list worth checking out: Hydrangea Tuxedo® for its purple black leaves; the glossy sunbursts of colour from the Pacific™ coprosmas; Tropicanna® canna’s rainbow of stripes.

5 tips for picking the best plants
With Coprosma Pacific™ Sunset, it’s all about the glossy foliage.
Tuxedo® hydrangeas have brilliant purple-black foliage to fall back on when the buds or flowers aren’t in the spotlight.

3. Gift worthy-ness: take a hard look at the plant you’re considering and ask yourself, would I give this as a present to someone? If the answer is yes, then you’re probably making a good selection. Gift-worthy plants look good right now. They can be treated as living flowers to dress up the house.

4. A longer game plan: there is real satisfaction in bringing home a lovely plant, enjoying it in and around the home for a while and then being able to plant it outside in a container or into the garden where it matures into something even bigger and better. To spot those plants which will give you this option just take a closer look at the plant labels and punch any plant’s name into Google to find out everything you need to know about it.

5. Toughies are best: this is obvious, but why would anyone want to bring home a tricky to grow, fussy plant? Nope. Limit yourself to plants that are proven performers, healthy individuals that have a reputation for being bullet-proof to care for. Again, a quick squizz at the tag, a bit of online research, and you’ll know if you’ve spotted a toughie. Or check out any of the plants already mentioned above because they are all super easy to grow and are, quite simply, great plants.