“Sarcococcas are tough and easy to grow, and will find the garden with delicious fragrance”, writes Joe Swift in The Telegraph a couple of weeks ago.
Sarcococcas are compact, evergreen shrubs, with simple, leathery leaves and tiny, fragrant creamy-white flowers in winter or spring, followed by red, purple or black berries which may persist into the following winter.
They have this wonderful scent and can be used planted singly, in pots or containers, as an informal hedge and as a larger block of three, five or even seven in a tricky shady spot towards the back of a larger garden. But watch planting a large block too near the house in case the scent becomes too overpowering.