Let’s face it, “winter interest” in the garden often amounts to a few somber evergreens, a spray of colorful berries, and some shreddy bark. Honest-to-God winter flowers are rare, and flowers on January first? Well, that’s asking a bit much. Or so I thought. I went to Edgefield McMenamins in Troutdale, Oregon on New Year’s Day to take some “winter interest” photos and ended up with some lovely winter flower shots!

intersweet (Chimonanthus praecox) is a gawky shrub that redeems itself now with the fresh, sweet fragrance of its blossoms. The pale yellow blooms, downward-facing and somewhat crumpled, would be easy to pass by, but the scent stops you in your tracks. The variety flowering now is probably ‘Grandiflora’, with larger blooms than the type and purple markings inside the flower (the later-blooming ‘Luteus’ is all-yellow).

It would be advantageous to site wintersweet where you could view the flowers from below. This isn’t hard, since the shrub can reach 10 feet tall and wide. Because it skips out on paying the rent the rest of the year, it would be a good idea to run a clematis or some other vine through it to give it some more seasonal interest besides winter interest. If you don’t have room in your garden for a 10-foot shrub, you can always espalier it against a wall.

Wintersweet is solidly hardy in zone 7 and is definitely worth trying in zone 6. It appreciates full sun or light shade, average water, and good drainage.