AS I look out from the back door, I give myself an imaginary pat on the back for being brave enough to flout the golden rule of garden design.

I didn't wait the obligatory year after moving house before I started tinkering with the garden. I reckoned that I could get away with it, as the previous owners hadn't really planted much of the garden up. There were a few trees, a large Leylandi hedge and a handful of shrubs. Apart from that it was basically a blank canvas for me to work with.

I decided that I couldn't make it through the winter without some form of floral enlightenment so I shaped, dug over and planted up the ground near to the back door. This particular space was nominated priority number one, as this was the view from the washing up bowl.

I concentrated on year-round interest, and in particular shape and form. I chose plants like the purple heuchera, flame coloured euphorbia, various lime green and mauve hellebores, the orange barked dogwoods and, as my specimen plant, a burnt toffee witch hazel. It isn't a standard colour scheme, but it does work very well as a comforter and bringer of cheer in mid winter.

The witch hazel has to be the plant of the moment. The fluorescent bundles of ribbon-like petals stand proud of the bare branches. The flowers are almost laughing at Jack Frost and daring him to try and freeze away their beauty.

There are basically four main varieties of witch hazel sold in garden centres at the moment, and it is well worth knowing the differences between them all in order to get the most out of them. They all come under the heading of 'hamamelis'. The mollis version is commonly known as the Chinese witch hazel. This has straight petals, and is usually yellow in colour. It has the sweetest spicy scent of all the hazels.

The Japanese witch hazel, or hamamelis japonica has smaller, more frizzy and crimped petals. They tend to be more in the orange and red tones. The smell is delicate.

When the two are crossed, it is known as hamamelis intermedia. This results in larger flowers in a range of colours from pale yellow right through to deep red. The down side though is that there is little or no scent to them.

The least common hamamelis in popular circulation is vernalis, otherwise known as the vernal hazel, or the Ozark hazel (don't know why). This has flowers with short spiky petals and a less obvious, musky scent. The colours start at yellow and go through orange to red and even purple.

On all varieties, the flowers form during the previous summer and are prompted into growth by short, cold days. The intermedia variety flowers first, followed by the mollis, vernal and finally the japonica. Frost will not touch the petals. They may look soggy after a particularly cold snap, but they soon spring back up again. In fact, the colder the weather, the longer the flowering period. They are hardy down to -25C.

It is not just their winter flowers that make them attractive to the gardener. In autumn they put on a dazzling display of golds and reds. All in all, they are easy to grow and manage, provide year round interest and have the bonus of being fragrant. It is surely a tree that earns it place in my garden.

* Contact Brigid with your gardening questions for The Northern Echo by emailing brigidpress67.freeserve.co.uk or write to her care of Nature's World, Ladgate Lane, Acklam, Middlesbrough.

You can phone Brigid with your horticultural questions during the Garden Hour on Radio Cleveland 95FM, every Sunday morning from 11am to midday.

Published:03/02/2002