Marianni Winter Daphne

Daphne odora ‘Marianni’

Plant Details

USDA Plant Hardiness Zones: 7a-10b Find Your Zone

Plant Type: Evergreen Flowering Shrub

Height at Maturity: 3′

Width at Maturity: 3′

Spacing: 2′ for solid hedges; 5’+ for space between plants

Growth Habit / Form: Dense, Mounding, Rounded

Growth Rate: Slow to Moderate

Flower Color: Purplish-Lavender, Soft Pink to White inside

Flower Size: Medium, 1.5″ cluster

Flowering Period: Late Winter thru Early Spring

Flower Type: Cluster

Fragrant Flowers: Yes – highly fragrant!

Foliage Color: Deep Green, Golden-Yellow margins

Fragrant Foliage: No

Sun Needs: Shade or Mostly Shade, Morning Sun with Afternoon Shade, Filtered All Day Sun or Dappled Shade

Water Needs: Low when established

Soil Type: Clay (Amended), Loam, Sand, Silt

Soil Moisture / Drainage: Well Drained Lightly Moist

Soil pH: 6.0 – 7.0 (Moderately Acid to Neutral)

Maintenance / Care: Very Low

Attracts: Visual Attention

Resistances: Deer, Disease, Drought, Dry Soil, Heat, Heavy Shade, Insect

Description

A showpiece in the shade garden, ‘Marianni’ is a truly outstanding semi-dwarf Winter Daphne selection with a rounded mounding form that lights up shady areas of the garden year round with its boldly variegated deep green leaves widely edged in bright golden-yellow. The abundant bouqets of highly fragrant flowers are soft pink to white inside and bright purplish-lavender outside and fill the garden with sweet perfume at a time of year not much else is blooming, with the exception of Edgeworthia, which is also in the Thymelaeaceae plant family. Depending on your location and the weather, Winter Daphne has a long bloom period that usually begins blooming sometime in January or February and continues through March or April.

Landscape & Garden Uses

Growing in a dense, rounded mound to about 3 feet tall and wide, Marianni Winter Daphne is ideal for use as a specimen, in groupings, or as a natural evergreen hedge in shady landscape borders and home foundation plantings. We have several in our gardens planted under the canopies of large shade trees and they’ve done great over the years. If you can, plant this colorful beauty of a winter daphne near windows, patios, decks, porches and other outdoor living spaces where the wonderful fragrance and outstanding color can be enjoyed from close up. A fine addition to Asian gardens, fragrance gardens, woodland gardens, cottage gardens, and Xeriscape gardens (low water needs).

Suggested Spacing: 2 feet apart for solid hedge or mass planting; 5 feet or more apart for space between plants

Note: For our customers who live and garden north of USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 7a, where this Winter Daphne is not reliably winter hardy, you’ll be happy to know it can be grown in containers that can be brought indoors during winter and placed back outside when temperatures warm up in spring. That said, it’s not the easiest plant to grow in containers, much preferring growing in the ground. But hey, with tender loving care it can be done!

Growing Preferences

Despite the remarkable variety of gardening myths about its requirements, Winter Daphne is very hardy and easy to grow. Know that it must have a well-drained soil and shade or part shade. No direct afternoon sun. In our gardens, Winter Daphne thrives in deep shade under the canopies of large shade trees and in other areas where not many other evergreen shrubs will grow. That said, plants will tolerate the morning sun. These plants are exceptionally drought tolerant when established. We never water the plants growing in our gardens during the winter dormant season.

Note: For helpful advice provided by our experts, click on the Planting & Care tab above on desktops or below on mobile phones.

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The plants arrived looking bigger than I expected. I’m really excited to get them into the soil this Fall season in hopes of finally experiencing the aroma of winter daphne in the Spring. Thank you so much!————————————————-We are so glad you are pleased and we hope you enjoy them for years to come! Thanks for the great review! 🙂 Beth Steele | WBG