What a beautiful daphne with so many blooms! I can't wait for my two plants to grow to that size!

"A daphne is a daphne is a daphne" just doesn't have the same ring to it.

Unless you are named like me.

Thanks for the pretty picture and the promise of spring on a very very cold night.

That's not our daphne bush in that picture, but we have three that are almost that size. That's a very healthy one, too -- they tend to be a little finicky. We've got one that's at least that good, two others a little less robust. All are in full swing right now, and have been for a few weeks.

Walking into Fred Meyer the other night (148th & Division) going past the garden section, the perfume from the gallon pots of Daphne there was wonderful. We've tried several times to add them to our garden but they've never survived.....

With all the cold weather we've had down here, my daphnes are just finally opening. They smell wonderful!

It's been really fun to point them out to my daughter as we walk through the neighborhood. We play a game called 'smell that? Now see if we can find where the daphne is", since they announce their fragrance well before we actually see the plant itself. It's a nice way to get her to slow down and check out what's going on around us...

One of the sweetest father-daughter stories I ever heard was from a fellow that worked for me, great employee, there was a large bush outside our office, and when we walked past one day on our way to the parking lot he said pinched off a blossom and said he took it home and put it under his daughter's pillow. She is in college now, and when I did have occassion to meet her, she was a delightful self-confident young woman who knew her Dad loved her dearly. I always remember that story when I pass by and smell the bush. If your little girls are past the stick everything in thier mouth phase you might want to start a tradition like that if the bush is handy.

Having both grown up in Portland, my other half and I recall mounting front porches and remembering the beautiful fragrance of daphne that greeted us....it is special and lifelong.

I started working at a new job 3 weeks ago and the office building has a whole bunch of daphne bushes right next to the entrance. The wonderful aroma is present in the air as I come to work and when I leave, relaxing me for the day ahead (in the morning) or the commute home(in the evening).

I really need to plant some at my house.

Give them really good drainage. They like water, but they don't want to stand in it. They can take a pretty wide range of sun and shade. The varigated-leaved varieties are interesting during the rest of the year when they are not blooming. Pinching the tips, (or cutting posies to bring inside), will make them grow bushier.

Swimmer's right, though, these are not for consumption...)

Once, no Grandma's garden in this part of the country was complete without one, usually out by the front gate where neighbors out for an evening stroll could enjoy them.

Grandma knew what she was doing.

Am I back in nice week again??? Actually, this IS NICE and I thank you for it! I can't wait for the jasmine to bloom.....

Ah, daphne...how sweet thou art.

Mine is right next to my back door. This weekend, I let the doors stand open (with screen doors) and opened the windows in the house. All the accumulated winter stench is blowing out, and daphne fragrance blowing in.

the daphne I now have, just about the size of that in the photo, is my fourth. I finally stumbled onto the success of daphne by planting it where I did, protected from most direct winds. The wind has to come from the southeast in order to chill it, and most of those are rare warm breezes. It is protected from the direct westerlies by a slat fence and from the easterly and nor'easterlies by the house. Consequently, it's very, very happy.

Right next to it, growing on the back of my grape arbor, are two star jasmine, each about seven foot tall and six foot across, and a deep glossy green year 'round. Late June, after the roses, is jasmine weather.

I love daphne. And thanks godfry for helping me identify a neighbors white star-liked fragrant bush.