Chimonanthus Praecox seeds Winter Sweet
LATIN NAME: Chimonanthus praecox
COMMON NAME: Wintersweet
The wintersweet opens its small, waxy, translucent, pale-yellow flowers on the bare branches, and the fine, sweet scent carries through the cold garden. The deciduous, upright, open shrub carries the oval, pointed, rough, dark-green leaves, passing in the autumn, and the small, waxy, translucent, pale-yellow flowers with the dark-brown or maroon centres on the bare stems through the heart of the winter, one of the fine, quiet, sweet-scented sights of the cold garden, drawing the early bees. The flowers have a very long record as the fine, winter-scented flowers of the old gardens, and the shrub is a fine, historic presence of the cold garden. It is a shrub of the open, sunny, deep, moist, well-drained ground.
Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology
The wintersweet is a historic subject of the plant science, and the waxy flowers keep showing up in the work on the winter-scented shrubs. The way the small, waxy, translucent, pale-yellow flowers open on the bare stems has been studied steadily, and it keeps appearing in the studies of the winter-scented shrubs, the cold-season flowers and the members of the calycanthus family. The rough, dark-green leaves and the open habit have also made it a fine study shrub, and the wintersweet is a regular subject of the work on the waxy flowers of the cold world.
Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications
The wintersweet is a fine, quiet shrub of the cold garden and the study collection. The small, waxy, translucent, pale-yellow flowers with the dark-brown or maroon centres open on the bare stems through the heart of the winter, one of the fine, quiet, sweet-scented sights of the cold garden, drawing the early bees, and the fine, sweet scent carries through the still air. It is one of the fine choices for the cold garden, the wall and the study collection, and it has been written up in the horticultural and the botanical papers for the waxy flowers and the winter-scented ways. It is a fine, quiet shrub of the open, sunny, deep, moist, well-drained garden.
Give the young shrubs the sunny, sheltered spot, and the waxy flowers will come in the winters to come.
To grow the wintersweet from seed, sow the small, brown seeds a centimetre down in the tray of rich, gritty soil, keep the tray in a cool, bright spot and water gently, then pot the young shrubs on as they fill the pot. The seedlings thread up within a few weeks and grow on steadily. With the sun and the deep, moist, well-drained ground, the waxy flowers will come in the winters to come.
Fully hardy, vigorous, broadly upright, deciduous shrub with lance-shaped leaves arranged in opposite pairs and pendant, fragrant, sulphur-yellow flowers, 2.5cm across and marked brown or purple inside, borne on the bare stems in winter.
Chimonanthus praecox, "wintersweet", is the only species widely grown as an ornamental plant, for its spicily scented winter flowers; these are also used in floristry as cut flowering branches.
Chimonanthus praecox, known as Wintersweet or Japanese Allspice, is a lovely deciduous small tree or large shrub that is native to China.
It is a deciduous shrub or tree from 2 to 13 metres tall with an erect trunk; with leaves 5–29 cm long and 2–12 cm broad.
Its strongly scented flowers are produced in winter and are yellow or yellow with a red basal spot. Wintersweet is an appropriate common name, for the flowers appear all winter on mature plants, and are renowned for their fragrance, whole stems often being cut for indoor arrangements.
