It was a joy to return after Christmas to see the first signs of the Garden coming back to life again. Despite some of the biting cold days we have had (down to -9º Celsiis on one day) our snowdrops are pushing their heads through the frosted ground. By the end of January they will be carpeting areas around the garden. For the 'galanthophiles' among you we have getting on for around thirty different species and cultivars although it would take a snowdrop fanatic to tell many of them apart, the differences can be very slight.

The naturalised species seen all over Wales is called Galanthus nivalis. There are also very pretty double forms of this in which the inner petals form a tight rosette. Snowdrops are very obliging and will grow in most soils even in quite heavy shade although if you want to plant a them on a sunny bank which is prone to drying out, the species Galanthus elwesii, will be the most successful as it is naturally found growing amongst rocks and scrub on the hillsides of Turkey and Greece. Snowdrops unlike other bulbs are traditionally planted or divided 'in the green' (i.e. in full growth). I have also successfully moved them at other times of year. The key is not to let the bulbs dry out, as they almost never recover from this.

The shrub Winter Sweet (Chimonanthus praecox) is already flowering on the Broadwalk and has almost translucent yellow bell-shaped flowers that, as its name suggests, carry a superb scent. This plant can be grown in the open, although it has more effect if trained against a wall, as the extra warmth improves flowering by ripening the wood during the summer.

By growing winter flowering shrubs against the wall of the house you are much more likely to get the benefit of the flowers, even if it is whilst just walking to the car, particularly as many of the flowers are quite small. Most winter flowering shrubs use scent rather than visual appeal to attract the few pollinators that are around at this time of year because it works over a much larger area.

There are many of these scented shrubs flowering at the Garden at the moment, such as several different species of the evergreen Christmas Box (Sarcococca) and many cultivars of Mahonia and Daphne. The Garden also contains an increasingly large collection of witch hazels, which have amazing spider-like flowers in colours from pale yellow to red. 'Jelena' is the first of the cultivars out with us and has large coppery orange flowers. It has the added bonus of good autumn colour. One of the best witch hazels for fragrance is the yellow-flowered Hamamelis x intermedia 'Pallida'.

A number of these scented shrubs have also been planted in the Double-walled Garden within the family beds. The planting of the empty beds within the inner walled garden has taken up most of my time over the last year and I am looking forward to its completion over the next few months.