Plant of the Moment No. 19: Daphne bholua 'Jacqueline Postill'

In flower since late December and still going strong, with many buds yet to open, this semi-evergreen shrub fills a large area of the garden with an intoxicating, almost addictive scent – particularly if you stand downwind on a mild day with the lightest of breezes. Unlike some Daphnes, this seems to be a relatively easy plant to establish and one that for us has made a large shrub over the course of the last eight years or so. Okay, so the foliage starts to look a bit battered by the end of the winter, and the older leaves yellow and drop in spring, but the long season of mid-winter flowering, the clusters of slightly waxy, yellow-stamened pink flowers, and above all the outstanding perfume, make this minor fault eminently forgiveable. This is a plant I would not be without.

Sunshine between the showers

Some welcome sunshine between the showers over the last few days has shone a spotlight on the textures and colours of early spring...

Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) seedheads

Vivid young shoots of Persicaria microcephala 'Red Dragon'

Unfurling buds of Ribes sanguineum 'White Icicle'

A hybrid of Pulmonaria officinalis

'Pussy willows' of Salix daphnoides

Willow stems, hazel catkins and snowdrops

Lenten Roses steal a march

The Christian observance of Lent, associated with piousness and self-denial, doesn't begin for another ten days, but nobody seems to have mentioned that to the hellebores – or 'Lenten Roses' – already at their gorgeous peak, some in demurely dusky shades of deepest wine red, others in far more flamboyant dress, ranging from apricot, through primrose yellow, to vivid green and pure white, many embelished with delicate veining or bold spotting. Hold one of the nodding flowers in your hand and turn it upwards to marvel at the intricate structure of the petal-like outer tepals enclosing dozens of bright yellow stamens, clustered around a protruding tuft of styles and emerging from a basal ring of nectaries, whose sweet secretions are so attractive to the first bumble-bees of spring. Lasting for weeks, hellebores are among the seasonal stalwarts of this garden and the moment they are over I begin looking forward to their next flowering – mid-way between the first snowdrops and the first wild daffodils.