Mahonia bealei is a smaller form of Mahonia japonica, the name is Mahonia japonica Bealei Group. It has smaller flower stems, where M. japonica has quite long drooping sprays of flowers which are very fragrant. The cultivars are less fragrant in varying degrees. I'm after Mahonia japonica myself but a good sized one is quite expensive and local garden centres don't have them. I really only want it for winter insects, some bumblebees here overwinter further south and I have a feeling they might where I am, they feed on Mahonia! M. japonica is also much hardier than most, it also tolerates dry shade and prefers a lot of shade. I was leaning towards M. japonica.
http://apps.rhs.org.uk/rhsplan...
