Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum

General Subjects => General Forum => Topic started by: pontus on January 07, 2014, 10:10:40 PM

Title: Best soil and growing advice for Daphne mezereum?
Post by: pontus on January 07, 2014, 10:10:40 PM

hello Everyone,

I have been contemplating some nice plants of Daphne mezereum at my local garden centre for quite a few months now...

I have just now finally made some space where I could possibly grow these.

I have read that at maturity, they can grow to about 150 cm's tall, however, these plants have been at the garden centre for a bit over a year, and are only about 30-60 cm's tall.. so I imagine that it is quite slow growing?

The reason I am asking about height is that I was thinking about planting them in association with some lilium regale, which here reach between 70 and 170 cm's, and I would not like them to "drown" in the daphnes if these eventually take up alot of space in terms of height and width, root space..etc

 I have read that this daphne sp grown in limey soils in the wild, so I would imagine that it needs lime or neutral soil in cultivation and not acid?

at the garden centre the plants seem to do well in full sun, so I imagine it is a sun loving plant?

And a final question, these are available as potted plants for sale (outside) in the nursery at the moment. They seemed ok when i checked on them 2 weeks ago (no frost damage apparent, as i imagine the pots must have gotten frozen through a few times at night..).. Given the very mild january here this year, would it be possible to plant these now with good results?

I plan to try and grab 2 or 3 of these before they are all gone, either this week or next, so any advice would be very usefull

thank you

Pontus

Title: Re: Best soil and growing advice for Daphne mezereum?
Post by: Gene Mirro on January 08, 2014, 03:33:52 AM

I grew four of them from seed.  They are now three years old, and are about one meter tall.  I planted them on the north side of the house about two years ago, in sandy loam soil.  They get nearly full shade, but they bloom well every year.  They like some lime.  The red berries are beautiful but very poisonous to people.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daphne_mezereum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daphne_mezereum)  The birds will eventually eat the berries. 

Title: Re: Best soil and growing advice for Daphne mezereum?
Post by: johnralphcarpenter on January 08, 2014, 02:10:11 PM

Where are you, Pontus? Our native Daphne, Daphne laureola, grows in quite deep shade on the chalk of the North Downs in Kent.

Title: Re: Best soil and growing advice for Daphne mezereum?
Post by: pontus on January 09, 2014, 11:54:01 PM

thanks for the advice,

I am in Switzerland John, (where by the way it is now 15°c!)