{"id":3648,"date":"2022-03-28T08:00:10","date_gmt":"2022-03-28T16:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/?p=3648"},"modified":"2022-03-28T08:00:10","modified_gmt":"2022-03-28T16:00:10","slug":"sweet-scents-of-early-spring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/sweet-scents-of-early-spring\/","title":{"rendered":"Sweet Scents of Early Spring"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Edgeworthia<\/a>In early spring every sprout that pushes up from the ground is a cause for celebration\u2014unless, of course, the sprout is onion grass.\u00a0 While I struggle to accept the things I cannot change\u2014onion grass is one of them\u2014I celebrate the plants that emerge bravely and mark the season with beauty and fragrance.\u00a0 One of the loveliest of these is paperbush, known botanically as Edgeworthia chrysantha or sometimes Edgworthia papyrifera.<\/p>\n

I have wanted one for years, but I would have to remove something else to accommodate it.\u00a0 At the moment I am eyeballing the roses of Sharon and thinking about whether I really need all six of them.\u00a0 Maybe the paperbush cause is not lost.<\/p>\n

To bolster my resolve, I direct my steps, or at least my car, to a nearby \u201cvest pocket\u201d botanical garden that is home to a paperbush, now in bloom and broadcasting its spicy fragrance to anyone within range.<\/p>\n

At maturity, paperbush grows six to seven feet tall, producing an array of flexible stems from just above ground level, creating a dome effect during the growing season.\u00a0 In this part of the world, the blue-green, oblong leaves are deciduous and grow opposite each other on the stems. When young, they are covered with very fine hairs. The flowers, which are the species\u2019 greatest glory, grow on \u201cold wood\u201d, with buds forming in late summer and overwintering on the stems. The buds swell into an elegant silver buttons and finally produce flowers in the late winter or early spring.\u00a0 The tiny tubular blooms, which can be cream, yellow or even orange-red, cluster into domed flowerheads or umbels that droop from the stems like little hanging baskets.<\/p>\n

The flowers are showy enough to stop traffic by themselves, but the fragrance is singular and pervasive.\u00a0 In gardens the shrubs should really be positioned close to high traffic areas for maximum appreciation.<\/p>\n

The first Edgeworthias came from China, where they grow as woodland edge plants.\u00a0 In 1845, plant hunters brought them back to England, where the shrubs attracted attention because of their beauty and early-flowering nature.\u00a0 Here in the United States, the only downside to edgeworthia is that its growing range is limited to USDA plant hardiness zones 7 through 9.\u00a0 If you live in Zone 6b and plant\u00a0 a paperbush near a building or in a protected spot, it might thrive.<\/p>\n

So why is edgeworthia known as \u201cpaperbush\u201d?\u00a0 Apparently the Japanese have long made fine paper from the underbark of Edgeworthia chrysantha or, possibly, a closely related species. As is often the case, plant taxonomists disagree.<\/p>\n

But there is another paper association of a different type.\u00a0 The genus name honors Michael Pakenham Edgeworth, a mid-nineteenth century Anglo-Irish amateur botanist and plant collector.\u00a0 His half sister, Maria Edgeworth, was a major novelist of the time and went through a lot of paper, producing literature for adults and children.\u00a0 She was also known as a feminist, diarist and correspondent, with a large network of influential friends.\u00a0 Clearly a papery thread connects the family to the plants.<\/p>\n

For some reason, probably the limited range, paperbush is less popular than other early bloomers, like various daphnes.\u00a0 Still, the shrubs are available commercially if you know where to look.\u00a0 \u2018Akebono\u2019, sometimes called \u2018Red Dragon\u2019, is an attention grabber, with reddish-orange flowers.\u00a0 The slightly larger\u2014up to eight feet tall–\u2018Nanjing Gold\u2019, features cream to golden yellow umbels. \u2018Snow Cream\u2019 boasts extra-large creamy yellow flowers with the same rich fragrance.<\/p>\n

To give your paperbush the best chance of success, plant it in rich soil in light shade.\u00a0 Mulch thoroughly and water during dry periods, as the plants tend to resent hot, dry summer weather.\u00a0 If you are planning on pruning as the plant gets bigger, do so right after it blooms, so you do not interfere with the next year\u2019s flower production.<\/p>\n

Excellent local nurseries may carry edgeworthia, so it pays to make a few calls.\u00a0 Curiously, two highly regarded mail order suppliers, Digging Dog Nursery and Plant Delights Nursery, currently list their edgeworthia offerings as \u201csold out\u201d.\u00a0 Both offer plant lovers the opportunity of receiving notifications when plants are restocked.\u00a0 You can also order the shrubs from Wilson Brothers Gardens, 1759 McGarity Road, McDonough, GA. 30252; (770) 573-1778; www.wilsonbrothersgardens.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In early spring every sprout that pushes up from the ground is a cause for celebration\u2014unless, of course, the sprout is onion grass.\u00a0 While I struggle to accept the things I cannot change\u2014onion grass is one of them\u2014I celebrate the plants that emerge bravely and mark the season with beauty and fragrance.\u00a0 One of the … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,2,5],"tags":[2683,2679,2680,1078,2681,2296,2682],"class_list":["post-3648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-interest","category-spring","category-winter","tag-daphne-relatives","tag-edworthia-chrysantha","tag-edworthia-papyrifera","tag-fragrant-shrubs","tag-paperbush","tag-spring-flowering-shrubs","tag-winter-flowering-shrubs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3648"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3650,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3648\/revisions\/3650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}