Daphne watch

I would like to apologize in advance to all of the intrepid gardeners living and gardening in Zones 6 or lower. But I really must whine a bit. I had been watching the progress of buds on the fragrant daphne (Daphne odora) for the last two weeks. They were plumped up nicely and sported that lovely magenta color that promises fragrant blossoms, their delicate perfume carried on gentle March breezes. (At this point may I insert the sound of a needle being dragged across a record?)

Thursday brought a record snowfall. The snow was especially wet. Branches broke from the venerable old cypress down the block, power lines sagged, and the daphne bush was a white hump. Fragrant March breezes? Hmphh.





But the snow has now melted enough to reveal a daphne virtually unchanged. I have never experienced a snow so far along in the bud development so the bloom status remains to be seen. But the buds look healthy and I am cautiously optimistic.

Here in my corner of the PNW gardeners have been accustomed to a seemly progression of seasons with few surprises. But Mother Nature has seen fit to stop coddling us these last few seasons. Storms are stacked up out in the Pacific, ready for their marching orders. It is windy and cold today, the sky filled with flat, steel-gray clouds. I’ll watch the daphne and see if it lives up to one of its common names. It is, after all, known as winter daphne.