When rain and cold weather stops for a day, I go out into the garden. 

Just looking – Julie often has new inhabitants in the garden and some of those are surprising.  

Grevillia is a species that hails from Australia. Some older TV Gardening Show watchers may remember Don Burk doing his hour-long shows every week – he loved Grevillia and so do I. In mid-winter, birds and pollinating winter insects will look for these flowers, filled with nectar. 

White Magnolia are coming out right now. No pollinating going on, just plenty of off-white colours that lighten up your boring garden background.  

Miscanthus chinensis, still waving in the wind. A froglet sitting quietly. 

Gaura Butterfly Rose with an emerging kiwi.  

“Just a Daffodil”, according to Julie – bright colours in winter. 

These are Hamamelis (also known as Witch Hazels). Many of these wonderful plants have an excellent smell – our yellow variety (H x Arnold Promis) is probably the exception, not much smell at all, but the bright colour stands out in a bare winter’s day.  

The red Witch Hazel is known as Hamamelis x intermedia Jelena. The colours sometimes float in a copper direction, with a smell that’s just divine.  

“Hamamelis” comes from two Greek words: hama (meaning “simultaneously”) and melon (“fruit”): it refers to that in autumn flowering varieties the flowers as well as the fruits that occur on the plant at the same time.  

I love those Hamamelis shrubs – and while researching a bit about our specimens I came across a spectacular hybrid: Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Diana’. Bright red flowers in winter but also preceded by bright red leaves before they fall in autumn.  

Guess what: I’m searching for that specimen mentioned above! 

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