If you go down to the woods today (reprise) – Scented Witch Hazels, Daphne & Sarcococca, Edgeworthia too at RHS Wisley

You are met, as soon as you walk into the gardens at RHS Wisley, by the seductive scent of Sarcococca, the Winter Box, in this case with pure white threadlike flowers on arching stems, set against deep green leaves. It is a fragrance that carries on the wind, a siren-call to the few pollinators out there. I’m captivated too and there are many specimens and many varieties throughout the shadier glades of Battleston Hill, my destination this afternoon.

Hellebore Walburton’s Rosemary is planted in a great swathe on a raised bed also by the entrance to the gardens and it is a perfect way to display these nodding flowers – deep soil, dappled shade and the flowers presented at an accessible height – no crouching to peer, upside down, at the treasures shyly hiding their faces and watching the leaf litter.

The lower slopes of Battleston Hill, with deciduous tree…