Sweet winter scents

Edgeworthia chrysantha

Edgeworthia, a small tree of Asian origin, grows in my garden. Each of the eight or nine years since I planted it, its blossoms have released their fresh, sweet scent in the January and February air, making a little song in my heart as I walk nearby.

Those tight white bud clusters that grow at the end of each stem began swelling up in the fall and have now begun opening, bright yellow, along the outer edges of the cluster. Yesterday afternoon I caught their fragrance for the first time this year ... ahhhhhhh.

Known commonly as Paperbush, Edgeworthia has been used in China and Japan to make high quality paper. I learned today from Ketzel Levine (http://www.npr.org/programs/talkingplants/profiles/edgeworthia.html) that Edgeworthia is also commonly known as Knot Plant, its branches being highly flexible and bendable. And that this lovely small tree may be found in hedgerows in southern China. As seasonal warmth increases, lovely, dark green, silver-undersided leaves up to 6 or 7 inches long and 2 inches wide will create a canopy over the tree's rounded top. I can easily imagine this environment as a welcome perch for birds seeking the cooling cover of such a hedgerow on a hot summer day.

Along with those stalwart little crocuses that are such welcome harbingers of the spring to come, Edgeworthia brings a quiet grace and beauty to my winter garden.