Loropetalum is a genus of four species of shrubs or small trees in the witch-hazel family, Hamamelidaceae, native to China, Japan, and south-eastern Asia.

In the middle of our cold winter my rosemary bush is covered in the most beautiful aromatic blue flowers that the brave bees are just loving! How versatile is rosemary, medicinally, culinary and of course, an all round fabulous plant in any garden.

Cyclamen persicum, the parent of these modern hybrids, is native to islands in the Mediterranean, Greece and Lebanon. In the 1600s cyclamen were taken to Europe and grown for ornamental purposes. Much work went into hybridising and breeding to obtain the form we have today, which is different from the original plants.