The upper leaf surface is peppered with small cream-coloured prickles, hence the common name. It is a male form and does not produce berries. Its flowers, however, do produce abundant pollen which makes it an ideal pollinator for the best of the berrying cultivars such as 'Madame Briot', 'Handsworth New Silver', 'Pyramidalis' and 'J.C. van ТоГ. One evergreen which, in many gardens, provides the one bright sunny corner during winter is Elaeagnus pungens 'Maculata', a robust shrub, vigorous when once established and covered with large, dark green, silver-backed leaves the upper surface of which is marked with a bold golden splash. It will produce green-leaved reversions which must be cut clean away without delay; otherwise this is an easy and hardy evergreen. A winter evergreen which produces flowers as a bonus is Garrya elliptia from California. It is not satisfactory in the coldest areas but in most regions, especially in the southern half of Britain, the male form is spectacular when draped with its long grey-green catkins during January and February (see also p. 83). All these winter shrubs are useful for cutting for indoors if pieces are carefully taken with sharp secateurs and only from an established plant, Those with flowers are particularly useful and may be cut when still in bud. Spring This season covers three of the most exciting gardening months, from the early awakenings in March to the mass blossoming of May. The choice of flowering shrubs is enormous and although the following are some of the most rewarding they are nevertheless but the tip of the iceberg. Related to the winter-flowering witch hazels are the Corylopsis. Their flowers, however, are more conventional, small, primrose yellow and cup-shaped, carried in drooping clusters along the slender branches in April or earlier in the case of C. pauciflora. The last-named is a dense, twiggy shrub with small sweetly-scented flower clusters. Because of its slow growth and compact habit it is more suitable for the small garden than any of the others although it does reach a height of 6ft(2m) eventually. It does not, however, thrive on limy soils. Such soils are no problem for the other species of Corylopsis, especially C. veitchiana which thrives in chalk or acid soils. It is a tall, vigorous shrub of up to 8ft(2.5m) with fresh green, oblong leaves and substantial racemes of yellow flowers from which peep brick-red anthers. To bridge the gap between winter and spring one should consider the qualities of the evergreen Mahonia japonica which will, in time, form a broad mound of stout stems bearing ruffs of bold pinnate spine-toothed dark green leaves. From the tips of the shoots appear clusters of long, drooping racemes of small yellow flowers whose fragrance resembles that of lily-ol-the-valley (Convallaria majalis). It is a tough, reliable and valuable shrub in sun or shade. April is the month when Magnolia stellata floods its stark, leafless twigs with white flowers.