Great specimen. I have only one perfect free draining spot for daphne and like you mine lasted about six years. There's a conifer there now.

tj

Hi, tj. I lingered in this courtyard-part of the garden hoping a gardener would appear. It didn't happen. In fairness, it was in the middle of the week, so it's understandable if they were not fully staffed. Anyhow, it would be interesting to know the "particulars" of this plant.

It is perfectly sited. Have you drawn a mental picture of walking by this plant in late May/early Juner? I'm feeling light-headed just thinking about it.

I have no idea how much attention this area is given by Olbrich staff, but I've got to believe it is at least looked at daily. Or maybe it is sort of forgotten about, which is perfectly fine with it.

How much rain have you gotten? I was in Scotland a few years back during June, and it felt a whole lot like what we've had the past six weeks. Cool, moist, and green. Fall color is very muted, but I'd be happy with this weather if it lingered into February.

Mine was a $3.00 Walmart mark down that I snapped up about six or seven years ago. Probably would have bypassed the thing if not for observing a thriving specimen in a friends zone 2 garden, yep that's correct! Yes, it requires good snow cover, otherwise results would be very iffy this far north. That poor potted plant of mine had been grown in dense sandy clay with every last speck of it falling off when removing it from the container, it had scant roots and I thought it would surely perish, but instead it thrived! The thing is now 4 ft across and flowered especially heavily this spring with its heady fragrance wafting through the air for about six weeks in our unusually cool and wet late spring weather.

Last week I got about 5" of rain but folks north of here got much more. I'll bet whaas got over 10".

tj

Frozebud, a $3 Carol Maackie daphne thriving in z4 Canada? Don’t you also have a Katsura that has defied the odds? It would be great to see some pictures. What was last winter like for you?

tj, I’ve heard the NE part of the state has set annual precipitation records. We received about the same as you. It gets dry fast here, so I try not to complain too much about rain.

Froze, great to know you have success with 'CM', I have a very similar climate with plenty of snowcover, will be giving it a try!