Whenever I open the cottage door at the moment I’m greeted by the scent of spicy vanilla with chocolate overtones. Whether I’m coming in or out I can’t resist burying my nose into the shrub responsible – Azara microphylla. The tiny mustard-yellow flowers, which only consist of bunches of tiny stamens, clothe every branch of this treelike shrub. The flowers are so insignificant it’s hard to understand just how they pack one of the most powerful scents in the garden, but they do.

A. microphylla was introduced into Britain in 1861 by Richard Pearce who originally worked for James Veitch, the leading Exeter nurseryman. Hortus Veitchii records Azara microphylla as a “native of Valdivia”, a town in Southern Chile. Like so many other plant hunters he died young. In his case, yellow fever claimed him in 1868, aged 33. An article written by Roy Lancaster (for The Garden, in August 2006) detailed the demise of several plant hunters. David Douglas (1799-1834 ) introduced the Douglas Fir and other conifers. He was gored by a bull in Hawaii in suspicious circumstances. Frank N. Meyer (1875-1918), who introduced Syringa meyeri and Ginkgo biloba, drowned in the Yangtze River after falling from a steamer.

The Rev John Banister (1650-92), who was known as Virginia’s First Naturalist, sent back the sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua) and the Virginian cowslip (Mertensia virginica). He was accidentally shot by a fellow expedition member. Richard Cunningham (1793-1835) was murdered by aborigines and William John Gill (1843-82 ) was dispatched by Bedouins. If the indigenous people didn’t get you, the wildlife often did. A. Ludwig (d. 1880) was bitten by a rattlesnake in America and Adolphe Biermann, the unfortunate curator of the Calcutta Botanic Garden was savaged by a tiger while walking in his garden.

Even if you managed to escape the natives, disease and illness saw you off instead. William Griffith (1810-45) succumbed to malaria. Richard Oldham (1837-64) got dysentery. Even two of the greats, George Forrest (1873-1932) and Reginald Farrer (1880-1920), came to tragic ends. Farrer, who collected Buddleja alternifolia, died from pneumonia in his tent during “unremitting rain” high in the mountains of Burma. This Yorkshireman left a legacy of Himalayan plants close to his home at Clapham near Ingleborough. Apparently, this eccentric loaded his shotgun with seeds he’d collected and fired them into a rocky gorge – where they grew and can still be seen today. Forrest, collector of many rhododendrons, had a heart attack in Tengyueh right at the end of what was intended to be his last foray into China before returning home for good.

Frank Kingdon Ward (1885-1958), the collector of the blue poppy (Meconopsis betonicifolia) seems to be an exception. He died aged 72 (four years after his last expedition) from a stroke, having survived being impaled by a bamboo spike, falling off a cliff, being in a tent when a tree came down and a severe earthquake registering 9.6 on the Richter scale.

n Whichford Pottery has a half-price seconds sale from tomorrow to Monday, April 13, from 10am to 5pm (Telephone 01608 684416). Home-made teas available.