Often described as the world’s most scented shrub, Daphne Perfume Princess? is recognised for its superior characteristics and performance. This plant was awarded Plant of the Year at the 2016 Nursery & Garden Industry awards in Australia, after its launch by Anthony Tesselaar Plants at the Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show in 2015.
Daphne Perfume Princess? has taken more than 10 years to develop and was raised by New Zealand based plant breeder, Mark Jury.
True Breeding Success
‘Perfume Princess’ became a true breeding success, and demonstrated both of the characteristics that Mark had hoped for: compact, shrubby foliage growth and heavy flowering. Plants reach a manageable 90-120cm and produce flowers between each leaf, double the size of those on usual D. odora varieties. Scent is improved too, with flowers offering an alluring fragrance with citrus undertones.
?Game Changer for Wyevale Nurseries
?Ben Gregory, product development manager at Hereford based Wyevale Nurseries stated:??Daphne ?Perfume Princess? has been a game changer for us at Wyevale Nurseries. ?Perfume Princess? is a superb grower: it is vigorous and branches well to create a very bushy potful with large, lush, deep coloured foliage.?
?It is also tolerant of a range of conditions and will take full sun, higher levels of moisture and responds very well to pruning. So far, we have had absolutely minimal losses. It is unlike any other Daphne we have grown in the past.?
Second Commercial Crop
Ben added: ?We were first introduced to this crop by Phillip Townshend from Anthony Tesselaar a number of years ago and we are now on our second commercial crop of the Daphne. We will have good numbers available for Spring 2018 and are continuing to bulk and build our offer in a wider number of formats and increased volumes.?
?We are also trialling and growing a number of other distinct Tesselaar introductions and look forward to doing more in the future.?
‘Perfume Princess’ produces tough plants, and each stem is literally dripping with potent blooms through spring. No wonder they often call Daphne the most fragrant shrub in the world!”
