Daphne, Burkwood Daphne 'Carol Mackie'

I received this shrub as a birthday gift 10 years ago. I got it in a two gallon pot. It's planted on a slope that faces west in zone 5b a...Read Morend in full sun. I read that they are short lived but my is doing very well as it is 7' across and 4' tall. Right now it is in full bloom and the scent will easily travel 50'. It's just heavenly.

This is one plant that's worth all the hype it receives in the fine gardening press.

It blooms profusely and reliably in M...Read Moreay, but it also repeat blooms well at other times, seemingly on whim. I've seen it in bloom in November, in February---I'm not sure there's a month in which I haven't seen it bloom. The fragrance is sweet and it perfumes the air.

The foliage is close to evergreen here, though in bad winters it only hangs on to the leaves at the tips.

Plants never seem to get much over two feet tall. If they don't first drop mysteriously dead, as daphnes are wont to do, at some point their main stems will split and they sprawl. I've seen several old plants at least 8 feet across, sprawling outward from their broken centers. They still bloom well, and contribute to the landscape despite their doughnut shape.

Good drainage is a requirement. I've seen plants performing adequately in partial to medium shade.

I've never had the courage to prune a daphne beyond removing broken branches.

Daphnes are short-lived shrubs. The average lifespan is about 10 years.

Daphnes are notorious for not liking being in pots. I bought a Carol Mackie from a reputable nursery, planning on holding it a week. Watered it on day 2, and within hours the leaves started to shrivel. It was dead in two more days. The moral: start with the smallest possible plant, and get it in the ground ASAP.

I live on a ridge in Avon CT and planted an 8" trident potted sprig eleven years ago. It grew to about 31/2' high and 41/2' wide. The pas...Read Moret two winters have been brutal and two of the three the 6-7" circumference trunks split near the base. It has been a spectacular show since year one. A horticultuaralist said the remaining healthy trunk and considerable bush can be saved with careful pruning and care. We will "go for it". I will also try to grow a wood cutting from this shrub with his help.

Nice daphne, fragrance is so strong it is almost overwhelming. They split in two a lot of times when they get older, keeping long extensi...Read Moreon growth trimmed back after flowering helps a little. Like any daphne, does not like to be disturbed once it is planted. Pick a spot and keep it there or it will likely die. Burkwood daphnes are one of the easiest to grow, just give it good drainage and sun.

I planted a "matched" pair of these on each side of my walkway about 2-3 years ago and they grew fairly fast.
But,one of them just...Read More died...now I have to move the other one,,,

This is one of my most treasured shrubs. It's flowers fill the air with a sent I wish I could wear. I do have a question, however, It ...Read Morehas grown mostly wide from the base, like octopus tentacles. The branches reach in all directions and are healthy and productive. The center, on the other hand is bare with just 4" thick branches exposed. Can this shrub be pruned way back to force these branches to sprout or does this shrub not take kindly to severe pruning?

I got two of these plants from White Flower Farms about 5 years ago. They were in 1 gal. containers. I have them planted in a raised fl...Read Moreower bed and they get full sun to partial shade. They must like it there as they have grown to approximately 4' x 4'. I have people who stop in and comment on the sweet fragrance when they are in bloom. I will enjoy these shrubs for as long as possible. I understand they are short-lived, so I hope they last a while.

This is by far, the most commented on plant in my shrub bed. It is just beautiful and vigorous. It requires almost no care and increase...Read Mores in size dramatically each year. Visitors love it's beautiful form, color and fragrance.

I love this shrub. Two of mine have been growing in a bed on a slight slope with excellent drainage and morning sun for four years. The...Read Morey were planted as very small one gallon plants. The blooms are now abundant, though it took me three years before I received a heavy bloom. They smell heavenly, but at first it can be so sweet that enjoying the fragrance from a distance is better than sticking your nose in the flowers :-) Mine have attained a height of about 3+ feet and a spread of about 3.5 - 4 feet. Daphnes are supposedly deer resistant. While I don't get a lot of deer damage because they lose most of their leaves in my zone, I do experience some slight "chew pruning" (stole that term from some one on DG). This pruning method actually seems beneficial for my plants. I trim off the ragged ends, and my daphnes reward me with lush fully leafed out shrubs and fabulous new growth by the end of May. In colder climates they can be slow to leaf out again. One of my plants is a full two weeks behind the other, so allow some time before giving up your daphne for dead in the spring.

Very nice plant. They can be fussy about thier soil. It must be well drained. Also, water as little as possible during the summer, thi...Read Mores will result in better blooms. They can however suffer from unexplained illness' without any warning. Enjoy them as long as you can but don't be suprised if one day they get sick without warning.

I inherited 3 of these when I purchased a house 2 year ago and they seemed to be doing fine until this spring when I discovered that one ...Read Moreof the three had not survived the winter. Winter was brutal here with the longest stretches of sub-20 degree weather that anyone can remember. I also found small, bright orange spots on the trunk of the dead one.

As a named cultivar, this plant does not come true from seed. The rooted cuttings tend to be pricey, due to the difficulty in propagatin...Read Moreg it. Mine is worth every penny.

Daphnes have a reputation for being short-lived; however many individual plants reach several decades in age. I sure hope mine does!

Burkwood Daphnes are the result of a cross between D. cneorum and D. caucasica. The resulting cultivar was named for Mrs. ...Read MoreCarolyn Brett (formerly Carol Mackie), who discovered the mutation of the hybrid in her New Jersey garden.

Two smallish plants were set out in my garden last year; contrary to warnings of slow growth, they each put on good growth and remained evergreen here in our (slightly-warmer-than-typical) zone 6b/7a winter. They even flowered, and the fragrance is VERY distinctive. A great plant that doesn't seem to need a lot of care.