Specialty Gardening: The Promise of Spring, 1 by mattadeus

mattadeus wrote:
soilsandup,
I have heard that Chimonanthus take a while to settle in before flowering and certainly that was the case with the var. 'Luteus' pictured above which took 5 years before flowering. I was really interested the other day to find the plain species Chimonanthus praecox for sale in a pot; in bloom and only 2 feet high!! Of course I couldn't resist, especially as the scent of the flowers is at least twice as strong as those of 'Luteus'. 'Luteus' is great though, as the flowers are a really bright yellow and stand out well on the bush, whereas the flowers of the species are less bright. Close up, I think with the red staining in their centres, the species flowers are very interesting though. Hopefully this small plant will continue to flower for me each year. It would be a shame to wait such a long time again for such a glorious scent. I have found on the Luteus that continually pinching back the new shoots to about 2 pairs of leaves as they grow not only helps to keep the plant a manageable size but it also ripens the new wood faster on the bush and that it develops more flower buds as a result.The regular pinching-out also makes the bush denser and this means even more flowers!!

Edited to add:
I think your plant will really benefit from being planted in the ground. The 'Luteus' didn't make much growth in a pot for me either but really took off when planted in the garden.

Here is a photo of the species flowers that are on a bush only 2 feet high

This message was edited Jan 28, 2006 12:16 PM