Daphne bholua 'Jacqueline Postil'

Common name: Nepalese Paper Plant

 

 

This plant makes grey winters tolerable and lifts the spirits up when its fruity tang cuts through the air. It is probably my favourite scent out of all the fragrant winter flowers. 'Jacqueline Postill' is a particularly good cultivar and not surprisingly has an AGM. It was bred by the eminent master propagator and plant breeder at Hillier nursery. It was a real treat to meet him at my very first garden opening at Bramdean House in February 2019, and his wife whom the plant is named after. He also bred another plant I enjoy very much  - Choisya x dewittiana ‘Aztec Gold’ also in this garden. At one point this Daphne was one of the hardest to get hold of as they are not easy to propagate, but these trees have been freely self seeding and Alan says that they should come true.

 

There are four of this plant here, two particularly handsome ones flank the back door of the house leading into the garden. They prefer neutral to acid soil, so some of the Daphnes suffer in certain spots after a time with a tendency to lose its leaves and yellowing because of the predominantly chalk soil at BH. The best thing to do to try and remediate them is to feed them more with a manure mulch around the base and to feed once a month from spring with a Maxicrop feed calibrated for calcifuge plants. After a time it may be best to replace with a plant that's more suited for this soil, but I will inhale deeply when these are in flower as long as they last.

 

All parts of Daphne is toxic if ingested and its sap can be an irritant. Two species of Daphne (D. bholua and D. papyracea has been traditionally used to make 'Lokta' paper hence its common name. It has been the paper of choice for government records in Nepal because of its durability.