Presumably, I would survive a winter without flowers. But why? Little sacrifice is made to allocate a portion of the garden to winter blooms, and while most are as unremarkable as any other plant past bloom, their contributions are considerable. No inch of ground covered by hellebores or winter flowering bulbs is regretted.

With layers of trees and shrubs, the side garden would still be fully stocked without many dozens of hellebores. In early January, foliage of Summer Snowflakes (Leucojum aestivum) is poking through the carpet of fallen leaves though these will flower after snowdrops (Galanthus) and daffodils that have not yet broken above the leaves. Mayapples, jack-in-the-pulpits, ferns and hostas fill gaps between hellebores by mid-spring.

Several Common witch hazels (Hamamelis virginiana) flower in October in this shaded area, and now that the Bigleaf magnolia (Magnolia macrophylla) is gone there should be enough sun to plant an Ozark (or Vernal) witch hazel (Hamamelis vernalis, below) for January flowers. Since the magnolia fell in a June storm I’ve been planting to fill the void, but the Ozark is more upright than other witch hazels so there should be space enough to cram it in.

Flowers of the Ozark witch hazel (Hamamelis vernalis, above) in the rear garden are slowly unfurling their spidery petals. Too slowly at the start of the new year, I think, but certainly the pace will increase despite chilly temperatures to keep on track to flower the second week of January (below).

If temperatures in January turn mild there’s a chance that the Asian hybrids (Hamamelis x intermedia) could begin flowering late in the month, but flowers typically begin a week or two later. The constant flowering presence through the first half of winter are the mahonias. ‘Winter Sun’ (Berberis x hortensis ‘Winter Sun, below) is the best of the bunch, but ‘Marvel’ is beginning to make a show. With a few areas of the garden expanded a month ago, I’ll be planting more mahonias in March to increase the number of winter flowers.

And one more thing. For whatever reminded me of this, I realized that I no longer have a source for free pussywillow cuttings to be brought indoors in late winter. Several that were planted a few years ago in the swampy ground behind the garden didn’t work out. I’ll clean the area up a bit and root the cuttings before planting to give them a better chance this time. I don’t slog around much in this area, so I need to give the young branches a good start. I’ll be happy to have them a year from now.