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There are two most commonly cultivated Daphne plants, Daphne odora, and particularly the cultivar ’Leucantha’ , which is often misspelt ’Leucanthe’ .

This shrub is a native of China and Japan, has an exquisite perfume, and is a reasonably hardy evergreen bush. It grows to around 1.5m tall with leathery, deep green leaves up to 80mm long. From mid-winter on into spring it produces clusters of small, starry, pale pink flowers. Several flower and foliage forms are available and the variety with yellow-edged leaves, ’Variegata’ (’Aureomarginata’ ), is often hardier and easier to grow than the species but hard to find in cultivation. ’Alba’ is the white flowered form of Leucantha with the same delicious perfume.

For Best Results

Daphne can be quite particular about soil conditions and can be slightly frost tender in the coldest winter areas. It thrives in cool, moist, humus enriched, well-drained, acid soil in sun or light shade. Work in plenty of compost, it’s impossible to use too much, and feed regularly with liquid fertilisers and an occasional side dressing of acid fertiliser.

Iron chlorosis is a potential problem with all of these dark green, large-leaved, evergreen daphnes. Their foliage yellows, though the veins tend to remain green. The answer is to mulch well and to occasionally drench the soil with an iron sulphate or iron chelates solution. Use iron sulphate at the rate of around a teaspoon per litre of water.

Other Species

Several other species are similar in appearance to Daphne odora and are well worth growing as slightly different alternatives to what everyone else has. Of these, Daphne bholua is the most commonly available.

Daphne bholua occurs in both deciduous and evergreen forms, but here they all seem to behave as semi-deciduous. It is shrub up to 3m tall, sometimes rather narrow and open in habit, that like Daphne odora flowers in winter and spring. The flowers are strongly scented, white-tinged-pink and open from deep pink buds. Black fruits follow the flow