LIKE many people, my love of gardening stems from the wonderful feeling of satisfaction derived from creating beauty where before, there was none.

I get a real kick out of combining plants based on their texture, form, colour and season of interest to create planting schemes that not only work aesthetically but are made up from plants that will thrive under the growing conditions. But sometimes it’s only one plant that's needed to ?ll a space in an established border and sometimes it’s only one well chosen plant that's needed to bring a smile of satisfaction to your face. And this happened to me just last week!

Tasked with ?lling a few gaps in a fairly established border, I gave three of the four spaces away to small/medium sized evergreen shrubs to provide some much needed structure among the existing, mainly deciduous, plants. The ?nal space was larger than the other three and after a quick look around the garden and appraisal of the other plants in the border, I decided a winter ?owering shrub was the missing piece of the puzzle. I chose a popular cultivar of witch hazel, Hamamelis x intermedia Pallida. Ultimately, it’s height and spread will ?ll this gap perfectly and the soil in this corner bed is moist but free draining and doesn’t dry out in the summer months (very important for Hamamelis). When the bright winter sunlight cut through the garden, illuminating the primrose yellow, sea anemone-like ?owers, it seemed that whole corner of the garden lit up! Cue my smile of simple satisfaction.

In my opinion, witch hazels are among the ?nest of winter ?owering shrubs. The goblet-shaped H x intermedia Pallida ?owers for what seems like ages in the depths of winter, producing a mass of unusual, spidery ?owers with crimped, narrow petals on bare branches. This is one of the most popular cultivars of witch hazel for good reason but there are other equally beautiful ones to try if yellow isn’t your thing. The slightly larger, Hamamelis x intermedia Diane has rich cherry-red ?owers and fab autumn colour and if coppery orange tones are more your bag, try Jelena or Aphrodite for later ?owering. Yellow ?owering cultivars such as Pallida look great planted alongside the ?ame coloured stems of Cornus sanguinea Midwinter Fire and deep reddish purple Hellebore hybrids. Winter aconites (Eranthis hyemalis) will form an attractive carpet and look fab under the deep red cultivars while winter ?owering jasmine (Jasminum nudi?orum) makes a pretty companion of orange cultivars - great for covering fences and the perfect backdrop to ?ery cultivars of witch hazel.

There bright lights will inspire you out into the winter garden on a ?ne day but if space allows, try any of these witch hazel near a path or a door to the house. Visitors will catch its delicious, sweet scent on the air and there will be smiles all around!.