Chimonanthus praecox - Wintersweet

Planting Advice for wintersweet Chimonanthus praecox:

• Plant your wintersweet shrubs in a sheltered sunny .
• location. The shrubs thrive in any well-drained soil and will give the best floral display when trained against a south or west facing wall.
• If you can, plant near your house so that you can enjoy its fabulous scent.
• Shrub roots generally tend to spread out rather than down, so dig a planting hole 3 x wider than the roots of the shrub you're planting and mix some well-rotted compost or manure with the soil from the hole and use this to re-fill one the shrub is in place.
• We've found that a square hole is better than a round one as the new roots, once they reach the edges tend to grow in a circle round the circumference of the hole whereas when they reach the corners of a square hole, they find it easier to grow through.
• Before planting soak container-grown shrubs thoroughly and allow to drain.
• Remove the plant from its pot and tease out a few of the roots.
• Add Mycorrhizal fungi to the roots when planting to help plants establish quicker.
  Place your Wintersweet in the hole at the same level at the pot.
• Refill the hole with the earth removed (backfilling) and firm in the soil with your heel, avoiding the root ball, then water well.
• If you're planting into pots, place some old rocks, stones or gravel in the bottom of the pot for drainage and ballast.
• Use the best compost you can buy and some sand or grit for drainage.

Aftercare Advice for Wintersweet:

• Keep plants well-watered and mulch after planting with a collar, compost, gravel, bark etc.

Pruning Advice for Chimonanthus praecox Wintersweet:

• Do not prune young plants as this may delay flowering.
• On established plants, you can prune back longer shoots to 2 buds from the base after flowering