Valentine’s Day is tomorrow, and I have new spots of red to share. This month we’ve loved the red blooms on our first witch hazel, Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Diane’.
Forsythia branches I clipped and brought indoors a week ago to force have burst into cheerful bloom. I would tuck witch hazel branches in for a fiery combination, but don’t want to hack at my new bush! Forsythia grows at Coppertop in abundance, with a 25-foot-long arching hedge blooming in March along one fence.
The snowdrops are up and awaiting a few sunny days to open their snowy petals on the hill across from the front door. Through gardening blogs, I’ve met more than a few snowdrop collectors who grow an amazing variety of lovely Galanthus. I can understand how they become an obsession. I’m not so patient with mine (of the common variety) and bring some indoors to get an early show. That’s actually how this whole garden journal began almost four years ago — with a simple glass of snowdrops!
Gardens at Coppertop 
I absolutely love snowdrops… I was lucky enough to have them already growing in my garden when I bought my house 12 years ago, and they’re almost done blooming already! Lovely to see what a witch hazel looks like in someone’s yard as I’ve only seen them at the nursery and wondered what they look like growing in real life 🙂
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I don’t know what took me so long to embrace witch hazel, but now I encourage everyone to do the same!
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Hazel and forsythia are two of the best. They are uncommon here because there are so many other flowers in winter.
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All of you there in CA have a definite bounty of winter beauty. Mill Valley’s my hometown and siblings there have beautiful camellias and even early rhodies in bloom, while I wait… The abundance of water, evergreens, and cool summers here keep me satisfied. 😉
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