Tag Archive for: hedging plants

Is Daphne Perfume Princess the best? (Yes!)

Daphne Perfume Princess
Go and do your research and you’ll quickly see why Daphne Perfume Princess™ is the best.

Question: Since 2016, what daphne is the best one to plant? (Hint: think royalty…) The answer is the Daphne Perfume Princess™ which was released that year.  And proof that she reigns supreme comes from the fact that she’s now been around long enough to prove that every compliment paid to Her Highness is based on fact. If you have Daphne Perfume Princess growing in your garden you’ll be nodding your head as you read through these absolute truths: she grows into a nice evergreen bushy shaped shrub; she’s easy to grow, thrives with no care and is a robustly healthy plant; she produces lots of flowers over a good stretch of time, and they are big; they’re also super fragrant with a citrus overtone that’s extra special. To push the point even further, she’s won these awards: 2018 Best New Ornamental Plant Variety, Horticulture Week, UK; 2018 Gold Medal, Florall Award, Belgium; 2016 Plant of the Year, Australian Nursery and Garden Industry Association. So there you have it. She’s the best. Fact. And here’s one more fact… a white Daphne Perfume Princess has been bred to join her pink flushed sister.

Daphne Perfume Princess White
Daphne Perfume Princess™ also comes in a white form.

Maybe you didn’t know about Daphne Perfume Princess until now. You’ll probably be interested to have her pointed out to you when you’re next down at the garden centre (believe it, she’ll be there). And then you’ll think – I want this daphne because I know I can grow it, and I’ve always wanted to grow one but the old ones were too fussy and not very pretty (if we’re honest). So here are a few ideas if you need inspiration on the where…

IN A CONTAINER: this is a great move if you don’t have much room or you tend to move house a bit. Daphne Perfume Princess will grow happily in a pot out on a balcony, on a patio, or beside the front door. Outdoors is the go – full sun through to part shade – you can always bring her in for the day to spice up the house. Pick a pot that’s generous and use potting mix to avoid waterlogging. Throw in a few spring bulbs and you’ll end up with a visual treat. Simple.

A LUXE HEDGE: if you’re about to plant a hedge, or what they call a foundation planting around the base of your home, think about using Daphne Perfume Princess. The way this wonderful daphne grows means you’d have a nice bushy green line of plants even when she’s not in flower. And when Daphne Perfume Princess is in flower, that fragrant bliss is yours!

BY THE BENCH: do you have a garden seat? Somewhere to stop for a break mid morning? If it’s well positioned it catches the sun in winter and enjoys dappled shade from a deciduous tree in summer. And from mid winter to late spring it needs to be enveloped by the scent of daphne. One plant will do it, tucked in nearby. Easy.

Daphne Perfume Princess
Here’s everything you need to make your magically scented spot in the garden – a bench + a daphne.
Daphne Perfume Princess flowers are very big (6cm = almost 2.5 inches).
Daphne Perfume Princess
Take a look at the nice bushy form it grows into – super useful in the garden.

Gorgeous coprosmas look after themselves

coprosmas
Delicious, luscious with chocolate rimmed foliage, this is Coprosma Pacific™ Sunset.

Question: if you had to choose between a great-looking plant that was complicated to grow, or an equally great-looking plant that was dead easy to deal with, which would you choose? Be honest: you’d pick the unfussy plant. In fact, growing pretty plants that are easy is one of the best ways to be a successful gardener.

Ok, so does that mean you should go ahead and fill your green spaces with the tried and true – lavender, rosemary, daisy – plants that are easy to manage but not exactly gorgeous? Of course you can, but if you have a little time, why not look at plants which are great looking as well as easy to deal with? Let’s take the Pacific™ Coprosmas as an example and see where we get…

1: Eyes shut – is it easy to grow? Before we even think about how good looking these plants are, we need to be certain that they are as straightforward to grow as any lavender bush. Of course they are, and that’s because Pacific™ Coprosmas are the descendants of the New Zealand mirror bush. You know the one: it’s that tough beast of a wind-break plant that thrives in salt spray and dry conditions. These survivor characteristics have been passed on down to the Pacific Coprosmas thanks to the skill of plant breeders, so that the gorgeous Coprosmas Pacific Sunrise and Pacific Sunset not only look great, but thrive hands-free.

coprosmas
Glowingly pretty but tough as nails, this is Coprosma Pacific™ Sunrise.

2: Eyes open – how good looking is it? Now it’s time to open our eyes and check these coprosmas out purely on the basis of their looks. Remember, it’s good to have easy to grow plants but not if they are Plain Janes. These are both really lovely. Starting with Coprosma Pacific Sunrise, the leaves are small and slightly ruffled which gives the overall plant a really nice overall texture. The core of each leaf is chocolate brown but then the edges look like they’ve been dipped in pink. Add a bit of sunlight and you’ve a glowing moment. The Coprosma Pacific Sunset version is a bit more adult: it has the same ruffled foliage but this time the leaf is often a deep red with the edges dipped in chocolate. If you stand back and look at both plants they share the same glossy finish and both grow into soft dense mounds.

coprosmas
Seen here side by side and lightly clipped into low hedges, Coprosma Pacific™ Sunrise (left) and Coprosma Pacific™ Sunset (right) are a no-brainer choice for a full-proof, highly-attractive planting.

3: So do these coprosmas deliver enough to earn them a place in the garden? For lots of reasons, yes. Because they grow fast into a healthy dense bush without you doing anything. Of course you can clip them into classically crisp hedges, but you could also just as easily let them grow into hedges or bushes that are soft and natural. Another good reason to plant them is that they look good all year around, unlike some plants that look a bit invisible or just ordinary until they pop into flower for a few short weeks. And if you’ve ever wondered what garden structure was all about, it’s simple. To help a planting scheme look good all the time, it needs a framework of constant plants, things that will always look really nice. Pacific Coprosmas are a good example. There might be some fluffy plants coming in and out of flower, but if you have some of these dependable Pacific Coprosmas in the mix the whole effect will look very professional (no surprise really as landscapers make good use of them). One other thing to mention is that apart from giving them the courtesy of establishment waterings, these coprosmas don’t need feeding or spraying for bugs etc. And if you’ve mulched around them to stop any weeds creeping into the picture, they really are zero maintenance plants.