Hangzhou is warming up and not just temperature-wise. Starting December 15, the city’s skies have turned mostly sunny with clear, dry days ahead - perfect weather for strolling outdoors and soaking in the season’s quiet beauty.

At Hangzhou Botanical Garden, visitors are already on the hunt for that unmistakable winter fragrance: the delicate, honeyed aroma of wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox) - locally known as “lamei.”

This year, however, the blooms are running about 10 days behind schedule. “Winter arrived late,” explains a garden staffer. “Wintersweet needs a proper cold snap to break dormancy. With this unusually mild early winter, the buds just weren’t ready to open - adding a little suspense to our annual floral ritual.”

But patience is paying off. Scattered clusters of golden-yellow flowers have quietly begun to unfurl in the Wintersweet Garden, their sweet perfume drifting through the crisp air. Even more surprising? The white plum blossoms are already out - typically, they don’t appear until January or February!

Right now, the garden boasts over 1,200 clumps of wintersweet across more than 40 varieties, most concentrated around the Lingfeng area - with the Wintersweet Garden, the Longyue Pavilion, and the Lingfeng entrance being the prime spots to catch them.

The full bloom usually lasts from mid-December through mid-January. So if you’re craving a breath of winter magic, now’s the time to wander through the garden, follow your nose, and welcome the season’s first floral whisper.