For those of us with only a Winter Corner, Viburnum farreri is essential. A sprig in a warm room invites the nose to a swooning scent of heliotrope. A native of China, apparently common in Chinese gardens, it has clusters of light pink flowers, appearing in succession from November on. Soil and aspect are of little concern.

Rubus thibetanus, a type of bramble, has prickly stems around five foot tall, which have an almost opalescent, silvery-white bloom, very pronounced in winter. I have it underplanted with a carpet of black-leaved Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Nigrescens'. Rather sophisticated, don't you think? R. cockburnianus is similar, the stems just as decorative, but a plant better used by country landowners for pheasants to hid in - it's too invasive for the small garden.

Hellebores

Would that designers of Christmas cards knew a Christmas rose when they saw one - in some cases they portray a white Japanese anemone instead. The true Christmas rose, Helleborus niger, has pure white flowers, sometimes ageing to pink, with golden stamens. Flowering time is variable; some forms don't flower until February. The size and quality of the flowers also varies, some flowers are cup-shaped with beautifully rounded petals and others are squinny little things. H. niger prefers a heavier soil than mine and certainly likes good living.

But hellebores of the H. orientalis type, ravishing plants to the last, are easier to please. The flowers, the first in bloom now [late November], come in heavenly colours, including smokey purple-black, crimson, yellow, pink, white, and numerous different shades of purple. Every December, I cut off all the old leaves, an important part of preventing the spread of fungus disease, which distorts the flowers and leaves with blackish spots.

Winter gardens have a magic all of their own. Ordinary things, when illuminated by a low winter sun, are suddenly transformed. A withered herbaceous stem, fallen leaf or even a stray pebble suddenly becomes a thing of mystery when attached to a long dark shadow.