What happened last year was that the flower bud was showing pink in Feb, but stayed shut for about 3 weeks until we had a few warm days strung together in mid-March. This year the Odora buds have again been visible since mid Feb, in fact I saw the first one in Jan, but have stayed tight closed for much longer. I'm sure the flowers will open when we finally get a few warm days strung together (the forecast is looking good), provided we don't get such a sharp frost it burns them off before.

I have my D Odora under the overhang of a tree (it's high enough to walk under). I think the best way (short of human intervention) to keep the frost off something is to have an overhang, if it doesn't mind the consequences, namely being rather dry. I don't water it very much, only in very dry spells. They are naturally woodland understorey plants, albeit from the highlands of Taiwan where rainfall is high. We have the somewhat similar D. Laureola growing naturally in the woods around here, and they are in locations which are well shaded and often bone dry for extended periods. (The same trick seems to be keeping my Lomatia Ferruginea alive and well, though I have to water it a lot - again it is a woodland plant; the one we put in Somerset in a sunny location died.) My D Odora only gets direct sunshine in late afternoon, and not at all in winter. On the other hand I have seen a long-established one being grown in an exposed rockery with all-day sun on the Somerset levels. Generally it is milder and damper on the Somerset levels than here in the Chilterns, and they have fewer frosts, though the frost they do have can be more deadly in their moist conditions.

Three years ago, I saw a mature D Odora in full flower in late Feb not far from me, but we had a nice Feb that year. It was in the corner of two fences, so well protected: I don't recall the aspect, but it was clearly getting a certain amount of shade.