There are only a few winter-flowering shrubs I can grow in my garden and it is always a gamble if they will get caught by frost or the harsh north winds we get late winter. This year however, the severe frosts we had mid-December have given way to some very mild days, thus allowing my Viburnum ‘Dawn’ to make the most of this window in the weather and unfold its petals, emitting a delicious scent. It is at the top of the drive, and I detected the smell as soon as I got out of my car to open the gate the other day.
This is the only Viburnum I have that flowers so early. Other winter bloomers are the Witch Hazel ‘Diane’, which may flower by February, and the Winter Sweet (Chimonanthus praecox) which has lots of fat buds.
My title today comes from the metronome in the background which we rarely use these days but looks nice on the sideboard!
Although it is still a small shrub, I convinced myself that this twig was growing at a strange angle too near to the ground. 😉 I must resist the urge to cut any more though, and will instead be sure to visit it regularly for a sniff. In the meantime this indoor sprig smells lovely.
I am happy to be joining Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for her Monday meme, where she invites us to find something we have grown or foraged to pop in a vase and share. Do visit her today and you may be in for a surprise what she has used for her Monday vase this week…
Have a good week!
Words and Herbs 
Lovely. So much better than my winter honeysuckle which you can only smell if you stick your nose right into the flower!
I am glad it is near the gate so I pass it regularly too!
So pretty, and I love that it has a strong scent.
It reminds me of honey and has me thinking of summer and honey bees… 😃
Gorgeous, I can almost smell it!
A shame you can’t Sandra!
Three perfect blooms on one stem – that doesn’t often happen on mine!! The shrubs do tend to send out new stems at odd angles and I am quite thorough at keeping mine in trim so it doesn’t affect adjacent shrubs too much. Bizarrely, I really like metronomes although I don’t have a musical use for one (but did have a digital version when I was learning to play the drums!) – they are such an attractive shape and there is something reassuringly soothing about the sound, like a grandfather clock, perhaps (but quieter!) Are you both musical?
We have a digital metronome too, which is actually also on the sideboard at the moment! Yes, both musical (it’s how we met) although my partner is the talented one and plays several instruments.
How lovely to meet through music! Any particular instrument (or was it singing)?Having said I had a digital one, I can’t nw remember if it was on a CD rather than a physical thing itself.
He played keyboards and bass guitar, and I wrote lyrics for his songs and sang – we briefly had a band! Seems like a lifetime ago now! Was a lot of fun. 😃
Thanks for sharing this interesting snippet, Cathy – most intriguing!
A lovely surprise! It looks exquisite. 🙂
Smells exquisite too! 😃
I do love the look of your metronome. I’m sure music students today use their phones instead. And how lovely to have some winter flowering and it’s likely with your mild climate you’ll find other surprises. So graceful, Cathy.
I am hoping it will stay mild Debra. For some reason I am not looking forward to snow this year… maybe I’m getting too old for it! LOL!
I think you just deserve a year off–no snow this year. LOL!
Hope so! 😉
Such a pretty colour 🙂
Thank you Cathy!
This is a pretty flower and wonderfully valuable as a winter bloomer! I am not familiar with this one though the range of Viburnum is amazing. We have tropical ones here. I am waiting to see the Wintersweet, I love those.
The first two tiny winter sweet flowers have opened today and they may appear in a vase next week… The petals are a bit tatty, but the scent is Amazing!
Wonderful, I can’t wait to see them. The Wintersweet is very hard to find here, I always wanted one, though I think I am too far south now.
Beautiful Cathy – I can smell it from here 😂
It is amazing how one small sprig can spread its perfume across a room. 😃
A scented beauty! Who can ask for more?!
Exactly! I am more than happy with it. 😃
Very nice. Simplicity is so welcome this time of year, after the hectic (though fun!) days of the holidays. 🙂
Our holiday season was actually very quiet, but that’s how we like it and this simple vase suits the January mood. 😃
Close up, it resembles Daphne. I do not notice the fragrance much because I typically ignore it. It is somewhat naturalized here. I like to recycle some of it into hedges.
Oh, now that I think about it, that is a different Viburnum.
Daphne isn’t common nere as it is sensitive to severe frosts, but I do like the smell of it too.
It can be finicky. We grew it on the farm, but it was not easy.
Flowering in the Dawn of the New Year as it were, and how clever of you to site the shrub so that its fragrance welcomes people coming up the drive.
I am probably the only one who notices it Noelle… but I also have buddleia and lilacs at the gate which grab more attention! Hope this Viburnum will grow a bit this year as it is still very small. 😃
Your fragrant branch is a gorgeous January offering. I should look into viburnums–have never grown them but don’t know why. My normally reliable January sweet blooming shrub for years had been winter daphne but alas I lost them this year. Haven’t had time to look for replacements.
Daphne is not quite hardy enough here, but Viburnums would be a lovely alternative. There are so many to choose from too. This is the only one I have that flowers so early. My favourite one is Viburnum carlesii ‘Aurora’, which flowers later here (April/May) and also smells wonderful. 😃
The delicate shades of pink along with a sweet fragrance, how lovely for this time of the year.
Yes, wonderful. 😃