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fragrantgarden99

Daphane Lawrence Crocker

fragrantgarden99
14 years ago

Saw this plant at a nursery and was told that it blooms summer-winter with wonderful fragrance. Sounds too good to be true. Has anyone here grown it and can comment?

Thanks,

FG

Comments (7)

  • Ispahan Zone6a Chicago
    14 years ago

    I have never grown this plant personally, but it seems to have glowing reviews online and the pictures look beautiful. Not many shrubs can compete with the fragrance of daphne.

    I hope someone here on this forum will be able to tell you more about this plant.

  • MichaelL
    14 years ago

    Daphne 'Lawrence Crocker' is a heavy spring bloomer, with scattered flowers the rest of the season. Although it's not the easiest daphne to grow, the fragrance and flower color (lilac purple) make it worth the effort. MUCH easier, and far more floriferous, are the x transatlantica daphnes: 'Eternal Fragrance', 'Jim's Pride', and the variegated 'Summer Ice'. In my garden, 'Summer Ice' has grown into a 4'x5' evergreen shrub that blooms heavily and incessantly from May to December. In fact, the buds present in December winter over and are the first to bloom in spring. Truly a must-have plant for zone 5b and higher, but it may struggle in the heat and humidity of the deep South.

  • fragrantgarden99
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Hello Michaell:

    Many thanks for your information on D. Lawrence Crocker. I look forward to the blooms.

    You also mentioned D. Summer Ice. I saw one plant blooming in my local nursery in December but it had very faint, virtually no smell, even when I pressed my nose close to the blooms. This maybe it is too cold or maybe because the plant just isn't as fragrant as D. odora? Where you are, can you smell it? And is the fragrance nice?
    I love fragrant plants.
    Thanks and happy new year!
    FG

  • MichaelL
    14 years ago

    Unlike Daphne odora, cold does affect the intensity of the x transatlantica daphnes. Also, the fragrance is totally different. Odora has a piercing, lemony rose fragrance, while 'Summer Ice' and the others are warmly spicy, like stocks and dianthus, with a shot of vanilla stirred in. The scent from the large plant in my front garden can be detected two houses down the street on a warm afternoon.
    If you haven't grown daphnes before, understand that they are willful plants and will not appreciate attention from you, other than your admiration. Customers purchasing plants from the nursery where I work are advised to give them little or no fertilizer, as little water as the plant will tolerate, and more space than you think they will need, because pruning a daphne is dangerous. They hold grudges.

  • fragrantgarden99
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Thank you, Michaell. I will try to smell D. Summer ice again when the weather's warm.
    FG

  • fragrantgarden99
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    My D. lawrence crocker just bloomed. Smelled sugary, like a purple buddleja. Doesn't have the lemony POW! of D. oroda. But very nice and very beautiful.
    FG

  • robidart_comcast_com
    12 years ago

    In 2009 I bought 40 one gallon Lawernce Crocker Daphne for a formal garden, 6 have died-they come from my supplier with problems-the last five replacements were in a gallon container's and the size was a small 6inch top growth and no roots underneath. Another greenhouse had a gallon container with 13inch top growth and well established growth. My problem with the first supplier was the root eating cymplanians that infected the entire garden. Then sudden suicide, Daphne commit suicide when too much water is the problem; my first greenhouse said this was the ultimate plant-easy to grow, deer resistant, blooms from spring to fall...Well just have 6 spots I keep replanting over and over and over and over again, changing the dirt as I go....

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