Jasmine’s not just for winter

The winter jasmine: It grows, totally neglected, up against a cold, shady wall facing into the east light with a determination that equals the biting winds.

EVEN on the coldest days of winter there is always something in the garden that will lift the spirits. With no weeding, staking, pricking out, or watering to be done, we can all take time to really look at whatever plucky plants are flowering.

Here, behind the bungalow I can see a few miniature posies of Viburnum, delicate hardy cyclamen and, most captivating of all, an early Lenten rose. But today my eyes peep further into the gloom and settle in a nearby garden where a specimen of winter Jasmine has me drooling. It grows, totally neglected, up against a cold, shady wall facing into the east light with a determination that equals the biting winds that blow in from that quarter.