mastergardener
The Gardeners Marketplace is aiming to become an online educational retailer offering plants of distinction and merit. Best practice guides on care.
The Gardeners Marketplace is aiming to become an online educational retailer offering plants of distinction and merit. Best practice guides on care.
Mid Winter 2017
24
Mid Winter 2017
24
Winter flowering plants produce brightly coloured blooms to attract the attention of pollinating insects on mild days. Camellias have very colourful flowers but no scent. These can flower with early Rhododendrons, and Hellebores. Daphne bholua 'Jacqueline', Hamamelis x intermedia 'Pallida' use scent to attract pollinating insects.
It's interesting how plants like Hamamelis require a bit of sun on mild winter days to produce scent to attract polinators, it seems a counter intuitive adaptation to 'narrow it's chances' in such a way, I guess they do not have to compete for the attention of pollinators with the vast majority of plants in the warmer months. Of course the pollinators themselves are active for the same reason. The fact that we can enjoy the blooms at this time is indeed a bonus for us!
In the middle of Winter there's very few insects around so plants use everything they have to attract them. Scent is only a bonus for us but for pollinators it's another way to find flowers which are ready for pollination, it is only then that the plants scent output is at it's maximum. This normally occurs during the day when insects are at their most active, for this reason it is also why on milder days plants produce scent as more insects will be active.
Newly opened flowers have no scent as they are not yet ready to attract pollinators. Plus once an older flower has be sufficiently pollinated the scent changes so to direct pollinators to unpollinated flowers, maximising the reproductive success of the plant.