The Fragrant Evergreen Plant That Is Easy To Grow In Containers

When you're shopping around for the perfect plants for your container garden, you may find yourself having to choose what you value most. Do you want an evergreen plant that offers privacy, eye-catching flowers, and an equally appealing fragrance? Fortunately, with this easy-to-grow fragrant evergreen, you can create a living statement piece that checks all the boxes while reaping the benefits of a container garden.

Also known as fragrant sarcococca, sweet box (Sarcococca confusa) is an evergreen shrub that can grow as small as three feet tall and wide. As a result, it can thrive in a container, providing ample versatility when designing your landscaping. While many flowering plants bloom in spring, sweet box actually blooms in the winter, followed by bright red berries emerging during the summer. Overall, it can be an attractive plant that brightens up a container garden while its show-stopping flowers provide a vanilla-like fragrance throughout your yard.

If you're interested in growing the evergreen sweet box shrub in your container garden, it's important to check whether it is considered invasive or aggressive in your area. Once you're sure it's a safe choice for your backyard, the next steps involve learning exactly how to care for sweet box shrubs, which thankfully don't require much maintenance or advanced skills on your part.

Because this is a long-lasting, low-maintenance shrub, sweet box can make the perfect plant for beginners. Overall, if you want to enjoy the year-round appeal and benefits of this plant, it's important to choose the right location for it. Sweet box is hardy in USDA zones 6 through 9, and grows best in well-draining soil. While it tolerates some drought, sweet box prefers consistently moist soil that is not waterlogged, as excess moisture can lead to rot. As far as sunlight goes, aim to plant sweet box in a location that receives either partial or deep shade. This makes it a smart choice for patios or other common spots for containers that may not receive as much sunlight throughout the day.

When caring for Sarcococca species, regular watering can help provide the best results. However, aside from this, the plant is fairly hands-off. Even at its fastest growth rate, the plant grows slowly and tends to stay compact in containers. As a result, trimming and pruning for spread and shape won't need to occur often. Sweet box performs best when its soil is rich in organic materials, which thankfully is easy to control when using potting mix in a container versus planting directly in the ground. If your soil is a bit light on nutrients, consider adding your own DIY compost to give it a helping hand.