chimonanthus… winter sweet!

Guess what? This folk is called Chimonanthus. It’s a Greek word meaning the flower of winter.(χειμωνανθος) It’s also called winter sweet and the name says it all. In the winter landscape where you hardly see any flowers, this beautiful shrub blossoms and these very fragrant flowers appear. This is what the picture can’t tell. The amazing sweet fragrance around the plant that makes it a must for your patio. I took a look in my favourite source of information pfaf.org (plants for a future) to find out that the flowers are edible and perfect to flavour and scent our teas. But also there are a few medicinal uses such as antiphlogistic, antireumatic and sialagogue. Their essential oils are used to treat colds – how fitting with the nature of this plant to create flowers in the heart of winter. We could even use the flowers to make perfume. Winter Sweet!