What do I need?

• A trowel
• A pot with holes
• Potting shards or hydrograins
• Garden peat and compost (but preferably a bag of Rhododendron soil)

In a pot
First, cover the holes in the bottom of the pot with potting shards or a layer of hydrograins. Add fresh potting soil to the pot and place the tree at the proper height, so that the top of the root ball is just below ground level. Fill the hole up with potting soil and press firmly. Give the Daphne water right away. Place the pot in half or full shade.

In the garden
Preferably, plant the Daphne in half or full shade. You can plant it in full sun, but only if the ground is moist enough.

Plant the shrub by making a large hole, loosening the soil and then adding garden peat and compost. Place the Daphne at the proper height, so that the top of the root ball is just below ground level. Fill the planting hole up with soil, press it down firmly and water immediately.

What do I need?
•    Pruning shears

Maintenance
Water the Daphne a bit when it is very dry, preferably with rainwater (if you have a rainwater basin), because it contains less lime.

Pruning
Daphnes do not need to be pruned. After it has bloomed you can prune it to the desired shape by cutting away unwanted branches.

Originally, Daphne bushes grew wild at the edges of the forests in Asia, in the humid, peaty Himalayan valleys. They like to be grown in moisture retaining, slightly acidic, marshy soil.
A popular Daphne is a shrub with leaf retention over the winter but if the weather is very severe it might well lose it all, only to replace it with new foliage in the spring. Some varieties flower as early as December with clusters of delightful smelling flowers. A Daphne bush can grow pretty large in the garden but in a planter on the patio or decking it will remain a little more compact. Looks great on its own, or combined with perhaps a Camelia.