The Burkwood’s Sweet Legacy

In flower in late March at JLBG is the sweetly fragrant Osmanthus x burkwoodii ‘Elizabeth Lawrence’, a plant we acquired from the late garden writer, Pam Harper. This sweet olive is a cross of the Turkish Osmanthus decorus and the Chinese native Osmanthus delavayi, created by 20th century English nurserymen, Arthur and Albert Burkwood. The specimen matures at a 10′ tall x 10′ wide. I’m not sure who added the cultivar name, commemorating NC’s most famous garden writer, the late Elizabeth Lawrence.

Also flowering now is another of the Burkwood brothers hybrids, Daphne x burkwoodii, representing a cross between Daphne cneorum and Daphne caucasica. We have killed (root fungus) enough of the commonly available cultivars of Daphne x burkwoodii, Daphne ‘Carol Mackie’ and Daphne ‘Briggs Moonlight’, but after seeing the cultivar Daphne ‘Silveredge’ growing in Hans Hansen’s Michigan garden, we decided to try this newer selection that we had yet to kill. To our surprise, our cutting grown plants have thrived as you can see in the photo below. The perfume like fragrance on our four year-old specimen is quite incredible. The Burkwood brothers are also responsible for a number of viburnum introductions, also named in their honor.