Currently the evergreen, winter-flowering shrub, Daphne bhuloa, is showing off its full-blown blooming splendor, and even with the cold temperatures, its fragrance is noticeable many feet away. The scent is slightly musky, which leads to thoughts of warm and pleasantly humid temperatures.
Then a gust of wind slaps your cheek, ending those brief daydreams. Regrettably, the plant does not do well as a cut flower. The scent soon disappears, the small petals wither and the leaves get droopy, all within a few hours of bringing the branches, covered with blooms, indoors.
This Daphne is native to the eastern Himalayas. Over the years many cultivars have been developed by breeders, the most popular one being "Jacqueline Postill." Whichever cultivar you choose, the plant will grow as an open and upright shrub with lance-shaped, medium-dark green leaves. The small, dark, pink-purple waxy buds open to reveal pure white, highly fragrant flowers. The slight variation to the blooms amongst the cultivars is lost on me.
Once established, Daphne plants can rarely be successfully transplanted. Additionally, they do not take kindly to heavy pruning. Like many winter and spring-flowering plants, the time to do any pruning is when the plant is in flower. And that is why it is such a disappointment that the pruned branches cannot make spectacular indoor flower arrangements.
It is possible, however, to make small noisette arrangements of the flowers, with the stems cut to within 3-4 inches of the blooms. These little cuttings can remain fresh-looking for a few days.
Ideally, the plant should be situated within an eastern, northeastern or northwestern site, with plenty of light and not too much direct sun. My wildly successful shrub (and envied by some dear friends) obviously landed in the right northeastern spot. It is nestled within a grove of Stewartia monodelpha trees, so it gets plenty of light during the late fall and winter seasons. Then it receives filtered sunlight during the spring and summer seasons. The soil is very sandy and only receives modest irrigation during late July, August and early September.
There is a thick layer of coarse mulch and Heuchera micrantha plants nestled around the base of the shrub. The shrub does not possess a particularly strong structural shape, so for me its beauty is the glory of its winter flower display. As the Stewartia trees start to leaf out in the spring, the not-very-distinctive shrub melts away into the background. It is next to the path that I use to haul out all those waste and recycling cans. So, even with the winter winds blowing and the cold rain pelting, I at least interact with its winter glory on a weekly basis.
In Nepal, the plant is called lokta, and hand-made paper, called kobhalu, is created from the bark fiber of the shrub. The shrubs are cropped above ground level, and can be re-harvested for the fiber after three or four years.
I came across a fascinating article at www.thesimpleleaf.com about the sustainable agriculture project at the Meghma Tea Estate. During the off-season, the tea workers produce the kobhalu paper from the lokta bark. Additionally, the estate owner, Madan Tamang, is using the proceeds from his tea sales to replant the local rhododendron forests that have been denuded due to the scarcity of fuel. In 2006 alone, 227,000 saplings were planted. Madan's dream is to have a 200-acre forest replanted in 10 years.
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