Scented shrubs for Christmas morning .. can you imagine walking out into your garden to pick sprays of fragrant flowers from the shrubs in the borders? Then taking inside armfuls of cool leaf and bloom knowing that as they warm up they will fill your home with perfume.
What a wonderful Christmas present! To yourself (you know you’ve earned it) and to those sharing your home over the holiday season.
As real gardeners know, gardens are never really ‘put to bed’ for the winter. It’s possible to have flowers blooming nearly every day of the year. Which is enjoyable for humans and a real boon to those pollinating insects who brave the weather.
Picking your own garden flowers, whether to dress the table for a formal Christmas dinner or hastily fill a vase, offers a moment to relax. And it impresses non-gardeners when they learn that delicious scented bouquet is homegrown.
So you can support pollinating insects and feel smug about it as you raise your glass to toast friends and family.
Scented Shrubs for Christmas Morning
Picking flowers and fragrant foliage from your own garden on Christmas morning may not be top of your list of things to do. But it offers an escape from the madness of stocking presents and bucks fizz with an opportunity to adorn your house with freshly picked flowers to please you and impress guests. I mean you might have the in laws staying as part of your Christmas bubble…
All the flowering shrubs I’m going to suggest will grow in most British gardens and should be in bloom at Christmas time. And then we have those which have aromatic foliage to add depth. But we’ll find some floral suggestions first
Scented Shrubs for Christmas Morning – Flowers First
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet”
Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, scene 2
I haven’t included roses in the list below. Although there may well be some still blooming in your garden, I know I have some. But whilst I have still been picking the few blooms and bringing them into the warmth, I find they don’t last as long as during summer and autumn. And they often look a bit bedraggles too. So if you have some flowering roses, do add them to your bunch, but if you don’t, its not an issue.
And our list hopefully has favourites to be reminded of and something to surprise you:-
- Camellia ‘Yuletide’
- Daphne
- Mahonia x media
- Viburnum x Bodnantense
- Winter flowering Honeysuckle
- Wintersweet
Camellia vernalis ‘Yuletide’
An unusual variety of Camellia. Bold red flowers with golden stamens are set against glossy dark evergreen leaves. This is a hybrid – Camellia japonica x Camellia sasanqua hybrid and relatively compact so will grow in a pot if you don’t have acid soil in the garden.
Now, most Camellia flowers don’t smell, it’s actually the leaves which are used in perfume making. However what makes this an unusual Camellia and is that those stunning flowers are scented.
Daphne
We have one evergreen and one deciduous Daphne for you. But there are plenty to choose from that have winter flowers. And of course being a Daphne they all have a delicious scent.
Daphne bholua has evergreen foliage. Although I’m suggesting Daphne bholua ‘Darjeeling’ which is semi-evergreen. Pale-pink flowers, which fade to white, appear from early winter. And its named Darjeeling as the original was raised at RHS Wisley from seed collected in Darjeeling. I do find it satisfying to know these things/
Daphne mezereum f. alba has white flowers which are often followed by yellow berries. This is a good winter flowering shrub for chalky soils.
Mahonia x media
Mahonia x media ‘Winter Sun’ has sprays of fragrant sun yellow flowers that smell delicious. These are followed by blue-black berries from February that are provide food for your garden birds.
Viburnum x Bodnantense
A deciduous shrub, the scented flowers bloom on bare branches from late autumn through winter and into early spring. Developed at Bodnant Gardens in North Wales, this hybrid is hardy throughout the UK. The variety ‘Charles Lamont’ has flowers in a brighter shade of pink than ‘Dawn’ if you’d like brightness with your scent.
Winter flowering Honeysuckle
This is where botanical Latin comes into play. Lonicera fragrantissima are Lonicera Standishii are both winter flowering Honeysuckles. However, the winter flowering honeysuckle which is most often sold in garden centres is Lonicera x purpusii. This is a cross between the previous two. Lonicera Standishii is only semi evergreen and has a pink tinge to its scented flowers.
Wintersweet
Wintersweet, Chimonanthus praecox is a shrub that you hardly notice during the summer. Except perhaps as a leafy green backdrop to vivid herbaceous perennials.
But from November through almost to March it is probably the flowering shrub you will most want in your garden. Or you would if you knew about it. Surprisingly few people realise its beauty, its perfume and its bee friendly qualifications. I love it so much I wrote a blog on it, so will direct you there!
A Surprise Duo
These two hide their fragrant flowers amongst their evergreen foliage so you may not have realised where the scent is coming from!
- Christmas Box
- Osmanthus
Christmas Box
Sarcococcca , Christmas Box, Sweet Box is such a useful year round plant that sometimes one forgets those fragrant winter flowers util walking past on a misty morning and having your nostrils teased!
Whilst Sarcococcca confusa is the most widely grown, at 2 feet tall, Sarcococca hookeriana var. digyna ‘Purple Stem’ is great for smaller gardens and for growing in pots. It has white flowers, tinted pink, and the stems as well as the midribs of the leaves are flushed purple.
Osmanthus heterophyllus
Sometimes mistaken for a holly, due its prickly leaves, Osmanthus heterophyllus is also known as holly Osmanthus, holly olive, and false holly.
Although not guaranteed to be flowering at Christmas, as it often starts to bloom in autumn, to date all those I’ve planted have been flowering in December. There are several cultivars that fit in with planting schemes, but ‘Goshiki’ has been particularly popular with clients. This has green foliage with cream marbling and often tinged pink or bronze, with small clusters of fragrant white flowers.
Scented Shrubs for Christmas Morning – Foliage to Feel
Adding aromatic foliage gives you the double whammy of bulking out the arrangements and adding another layer of fragrance, especially when touched. I’m not the world’s greatest flower arranger, but I have found that the following last quite well as cut stems alongside flowers. Two of these you probably grow to use as culinary herbs.
- Bay
- Eucalyptus
- Rosemary
- Santolina
Bay
Laurus nobilis, sweet bay, bay laurel. It may not be easy to cut stems if you have lollipop bays outside your front door but a looser growing bay tree lends itself to a bit of judicious pruning.
Eucalyptus
Buy a small tree, and pollard or coppice to keep it more compact. Then you’ll have lots juvenile glaucous, aromatic foliage to use in flower arrangements. See blog links below for an article on coppiced trees in your garden.
Rosemary
Rosmarinus angustifolia, now Salvia Rosmarinus, has narrow, evergreen leaves that are highly scented. Add some stems to cut flower arrangements when you‘re cutting some for the kitchen. As this bushy herb can grow fairly quickly its useful to get the pruning done on a regular basis!
Santolina
Santolina chamaecyparissus, cotton lavender, has finely divided foliage. The stems will be relatively short, but with the delicate silver aromatic leaves it tucks nicely in the front of an arrangement. Personally, I clip it before it bear the yellow flowers in May as I like it as a neat, rounded bush.
What next?
What do you need to do next to find your own scented shrubs for Christmas morning? Well, there are links below for more information and further ideas, so do have a look through. And of course, if you’d like help with designing a winter border filled with scented flowers and foliage, do get in touch!
You’ll find more tips and ideas in our eBook “In Your Winter Garden ” And for those of you who like Christmas – why not download our eBook “Christmas and Yule in Your Garden“?
Or if you’re looking for a Christmas gift with a difference, why not ask about our bespoke Gardening Lessons, where your classroom is actually your own garden? We can help with both gardening basics and more ‘expert tasks’, carry out worm and other experiments and for example, also show you how to plan a wildlife friendly ornamental border.
For further gardening advice and inspiration, check out Plews Potting Shed blogs, including the selection below and our monthly Tipsheet – You could come and find us on Instagram Pinterest and Facebook too.
Related Gardening articles you may enjoy from our Award Winning Blog
10 Winter Flowering Shrubs – Planting Ideas for your Garden
Chimonanthus praecox – Wintersweet
Coppiced Trees and Shrubs in Your Garden
Evergreen Shrubs for Foliage Interest
12 Design Ideas for Your Winter Garden
Winter Evergreens in your Garden and your Home
3 Flowering Christmas Houseplants
Snowy Winter Gardens
Cornus – Dogwood – Colourful Winter Stems
