Go for a haze of midwinter glor y

A JANUARY highlight for many gardeners is the sight of the intensely fragrant blooms of witch hazel lighting up plots.

If you are looking to invest in one, keep your eyes peeled for the variety Vesna, which grows into a beautiful vase shape and has red and yellow blooms that glow like a winter fire.

Witch hazels can cope with temperatures as low as -4C provided the roots are lagged when it is growing in a trendy metal container.

In the garden they will thrive in moist but well-drained soils in partial shade. Because it takes at least ten years to reach 1.5m in height, it is perfect for a pot on the patio.

Witch hazels are prized for their shapely outline, which is a spreading vase-shaped habit with zigzag crooked branches and also for their spicysweet, scented blooms, which some people describe as citrus-like.

The blooms, which hang from the bare branches like fiery coloured spiders, unravel during the first few weeks of the New Year, if not before, and continue until about mid March.

Some witch hazels are more fragrant than others and the strongest and sweetest scents belong to Hamamelis x intermedia Pallida.

The plant has sulphur- yellow flowers that can be described as smelling strongly of freesias.

For a small garden, look for Hamamelis Arnold Promise, which has large yellow flowers.

Another outstanding variety with yellow flowers is Jermyns Gold, which has attractive autumn foliage that turns bright yellow before the leaves drop off.

Gingerbread is a variety that has vibrant orange blooms.

The coppery- orange flowers of Jelena cling to the bare twigs throughout January and February. These can be made all the more special by under-planting with a carpet of snowdrops or blue scillas to contrast with the orangey flowers.

Aphrodite also has ginger-coloured blooms. Most attractive is Hamamelis x intermedia Aurora, which has large straw yellow and light red flowers with red calyces that wrap around and protect the buds.

The varieties Diane, Ruby Glow and Rubin also have blooms that are startlingly red.

QTip