In recent years there has appeared on the garden scene a shrub which promises to be here to stay-its name is Daphne bholua, a native of the eastern Himalaya where it grows in woods and clearings up to n,oooft(3,353m). Its flowers are borne in clusters at the tips of the shoots. They are white, stained rose-purple and impart a delicious fragrance to the air. Several forms are in cultivation, some deciduous and hardy, others evergreen and not so hardy. One of the most hardy and satisfactory of these is named 'Gurkha' and reaches 6 to 8ft(2 to 2.5m), flowering on the naked branches from January to March, earlier or later depending on prevailing conditions and shelter. Unlike most daphnes it appears to react to lime in the soil, its leaves becoming chlorotic in summer. Another shrub which prefers an acid soil is the witch hazel, Hamamelis, of which there are several species and cultivars. One of the most commonly seen is the Chinese H. mollis whose golden, strap-shaped petals unwind like watch springs at the slightest hint of warmth. On any bright day between Christmas and February one can find the flowers clustered along the branches like colonies of golden spiders creating a bright splash and a sweet perfume. Although the type species is a first-rate shrub there is also a superb cultivar, 'Pallida', in which the flowers are larger and of a clear sulphur-yellow. Both eventually are large shrubs of wide-spread habit and demand plenty of space in which to develop. They associate well with blue-flowered bulbs such as Scilla and Chionodoxa spp. and are particularly dramatic when underplanted with the winter-flowering heaths, Erica her-Ьжеа (syn. E. carnea), E. erigena (syn. £. mediterranea), E.xdarleyensis and their numerous cultivars. It so happens that most shrubs which carry attractive fruits in winter are also evergreen-Skimmia, Aucuba and Viburnum davidii being three. Two shrubs of this category which come very close to being complete all-rounders are Cotoneaster glaucophyllus, especially its variety serotinus, and C. kcteus. Both are vigorous in growth-up to loftfjm) or more and have leathery, oval leaves which are white or blue-green beneath. Their white flower clusters are produced in late June and July-late, that is, for a cotoneaster-which means their dense clusters of small but bright red berries are correspondingly late to ripen, usually after Christmas. Like others of their genus they are easy and hardy in most soils. It is a moot point as to whether the English holly and its cultivars should be classed as shrubs or trees. Theoretically, they are the latter but in practice they are often grown as shrubs, either by annual clipping or by choosing one of the slower growing cultivars of which there are several. In the last category comes the silver hedgehog holly, Hex aquifolium 'Ferox Argentea' which is compact in habit and has purple twigs densely crowded with small leaves which are green and grey, margined creamy-white.