5 Mahonias with fragrant flowers

Mahonia 'Winter Sun', a very popular bush.

The Mahonia x media is a widely grown bush in gardens, arising from a cross-breeding between Mahonia japonica and Mahonia oiwakensis.

Among the varieties, ‘Winter Sun’ stands out for its many attributes. Its golden-yellow flowering is one of them, especially from November to February, period of its flowering when most other bushes enjoy a well-deserved vegetative rest. By the way, isn’t it called the “winter sun”?

Indeed, this Mahonia offers long inflorescences of nearly 30 cm, grouped in clusters at the ends of the young shoots, which look quite spectacular in their size. Beyond lighting up borders with its abundant lemon-yellow flowers, this Mahonia variety emits an exquisite lily-of-the-valley fragrance. A very pleasant reason to step out into your garden, even in winter, to enjoy the scent of this spring promise.

Of course, like other varieties, ‘Winter Sun’ produces after flowering small blue berries, coated with bloom, which will delight garden birds.

This bush also features an upright and slightly spreading habit, with little ramification. Over the years, its single trunk tends to become bare. As for its foliage, nearly 50 cm long, it is particularly divided into 21 leaflets, arranged on an almost horizontal plane. In the depths of winter, the leaves take on purplish hues.

All these characteristics give this fragrant Mahonia a deliberately exotic look and real presence in the garden at a time when the greyness dominates. Moreover, it reaches a substantial size of around 3 m in height and width. But its growth remains relatively slow.

Mahonia 'Soft Caress', a touch of winter softness.

At first glance, it is immediately evident that this mahonia variety stands out from its peers. Indeed, the mahonia eurybracteata ‘Soft Caress’ offers foliage that is friendlier, as it is thornless. Its leaves, formed of long, slender and very flexible leaflets, display an unusual softness. No thorns to deter the gardener! The olive-green colour of its evergreen foliage, persistent and lush, also sets it apart from other varieties. Particularly striking and pleasant to the touch, this foliage even tends to take on a fern-like appearance.

Nevertheless, this mahonia retains one of its major assets, namely its flowering. It begins in September and continues through to November, in a pale lemon-yellow colour. Beyond this refined colour, the flowers of this mahonia variety distil a delicate mimosa fragrance, even softer. This fragrant flowering then yields bluish-black berries, speckled with silvery reflections, which delight the eyes of gardeners, but also the beaks of birds that find a tasty treat as winter approaches.

Mahonia ‘Soft Caress’ with thornless foliage

Endowed with a certain charm and great originality, this mahonia will thrive in shade or partial shade in a border, in the company of heavenly bamboo (Nandina) or ferns. And as its foliage is thornless, it can also find a place on a balcony or terrace in a pot. With a height up to 1.3 m and a spread of around 1.5 m, it will be ornamental there.

Mahonia japonica 'Hivernant', a vigorous bush, delicately graceful.

With a habit that is both erect and spreading, rather vertical, slightly ramified and somewhat stiff, the mahonia japonica ‘Hivernant’ appears particularly vigorous. Reaching 1.5 m in all directions, it offers foliage not lacking in originality. Indeed, its evergreen and pinnate foliage, with leaves partly leathery and spiny, broad and up to almost 50 cm long, displays a rather dark green colour, slightly maculated with yellow. In winter, with the cold, it can even take on a purple hue. This distinctive trait gives it undeniable decorative appeal.

The flowers of mahonia japonica ‘Hivernant’

But it also asserts itself with its generous flowering, a pale yellow colour, yet attractive. The long panicles of campanulate flowers, erect and then spreading over the weeks, draw the eye from November to March. These flowers are all the more striking for being set on a plum-coloured base. Long almost 25 cm, these inflorescences also owe their charm to the exquisite lily-of-the-valley fragrance they diffuse around them. After flowering, oval berries appear in a magnificent blue-purple colour. These berries persist for a long time on the shrub’s branches, unless garden birds make them their meal.

In terms of size and habit, this shrub adapts to all configurations, in the ground, in a bed or border, as a specimen plant or in a free hedge, and in a pot on a terrace or balcony. However, keep away from children and young pets.

The Mahonia aquifolium 'Apollo', tiny and cute.

Mahonia aquifolium ‘Apollo’. This mahonia is likely to please you, small and bushy as it is. Not exceeding 80 cm in all directions, it nonetheless asserts its presence with abundant, bushy and compact foliage. These dimensions will easily allow it to find a place on a balcony or terrace, pot-grown. Moreover, this dense habit sets it apart from the species, the Mahonia aquifolium, which is clearly less ramified. As for the foliage, it is a bright green, light in spring, but darkens in summer. And, in autumn, the leathery and spiny leaves turn purple as the cold sets in.

Particularly late, the first flowers wait until February to bloom. The flowering continues until May, illuminating the garden with their colour of a very deep yellow. Melliferous and nectariferous, these flowers attract foraging insects and pollinators just emerging from their winter lethargy. They also attract the first gardeners, just out of hibernation, who can enjoy the sweet and floral fragrances of mimosa that they diffuse widely. Again, the ‘Apollo’ variety is clearly more fragrant than the species.

Close-up on the flowers of Mahonia ‘Apollo’

This mahonia variety is a bush adaptable to all situations. It tolerates poor soils, even calcareous ones, drought, competition from tree roots, wind, urban pollution, cold and frost below -20 °C… In other words, it can be planted anywhere, provided it has a site with partial shade to shade.

Mahonia x media 'Charity', a bush with an imposing habit.

Imposing, the mahonia ‘Charity’ is certainly so! It can indeed reach 3–4 m in height with a corresponding spread. In other words, it’s hardly inconspicuous, especially when its flowering bursts forth in woodland undergrowth, a setting it particularly enjoys. With an erect habit, slightly spreading, a touch stiff, but very tidy, this mahonia sometimes has only a single trunk that becomes bare at the base as the years pass. It then forms a small tree that is very decorative with its glossy, spiny foliage, light green in spring, which darkens in summer, and turns purple in autumn.

As for its flowering, it’s also worth dwelling on. The first flowers, gathered in dense clusters 20 to 30 cm long, open in December. The flowering continues generously until February. Melliferous and nectariferous, these flowers are a boon for bees and hungry bumblebees. In bright yellow, these flowers exude a delicate fragrance of lily of the valley that perfumes the surroundings.

The mahonia ‘Charity’

This bush, mimosa-like in appearance, thrives anywhere. Hardy to -15°C, it shows great adaptability to soil types. Its only requirement lies in exposure. It enjoys partial shade, even shade. That is why it will grow happily with ferns that conceal its bare base.