Sarcococca confusa, the sweet box or Christmas box, is one of the most useful winter-flowering shrubs for shade. This bushy evergreen shrub from the Buxaceae family holds glossy dark green leaves all year and, in the depths of winter, opens tiny cream flowers that carry a powerful honey and vanilla scent long before the rest of the garden has woken up. From December to March those unassuming flowers perfume the air around a doorway or path, and are followed by glossy black berries that hold well into spring. As a compact hardy exotic reaching around 1.5 to 2m, sweet box earns its place in shade where little else will flower. The Christmas box is one of those quietly brilliant plants: give it a year or two to establish and it becomes a low-maintenance backbone for shady exotic borders, while its winter flowers are a vital early nectar source for bees and other pollinators. A superb winter-flowering shrub for shade, sent out as a strong, nursery-grown plant ready to scent your garden for years to come.
