Lazarus

Daphne x reichsteinii - not named after an angry chef - always looks like it's died in winter but in Spring it comes back to life.

It's a hybrid between Daphne alpina and Daphne petraea which I rasied from seed many years ago.  John Good (no relation) writes in his Blog:
"This unusual naturally-occurring hybrid from the Lake Garda region of Italy is not seen very often in gardens, which perhaps is not surprising given that, as the images show, it is a poor thing compared with either of its parents, having small flowers rather sparsely born on the newly-opened leaves, for it is deciduous like D. alpina. But I like it and the flowers certainly reward close scrutiny, both in terms of their appearance and scent. It is a slow grower, making a rounded bush 40 cm wide after 10 years."


You can read more of John's Blog here - it's full of lovely plant pictures and the distilled wisdom of a lifelong expert alpine gardener.