Roy Farrow

1)   Chimonanthus praecox                          Wintersweet

• The light yellow flowers are debatably the sweetest of the Witt Winter Garden.
• Wintersweet is highly cultivated in China where the flowers are used in teas and herbal remedies despite the fact that the seeds are poisonous.
• Also in China, the flower petals are used in potpourri and to scent linen.

2)   Cornus sanguinea ‘Midwinter Fire’                          Midwinter Fire Dogwood

• Cornus sanguinea is native to Europe.
• The ‘Midwinter Fire’ cultivar shows off stunning red and pink stems after the golden fall leaves have dropped.
• This species of dogwood has shallow roots which send up new shoots as they spread, forming a thicket.

3)   Corylus maxima ‘Atropurpurea Superba’                          Giant Filbert

• The giant filbert is native to Europe where it is grown in cultivation for its edible nuts.
• The cultivar ‘Atropurpurea’ has long purple catkins, which are now just beginning to expand and will be followed by deep purple leaves in the spring lasting into summer.

4)   Cotoneaster tengyuehensis

• This Cotoneaster is native to southern China and is a member of the Rose family.
• The fruit, pomes, are shiny red which is unusual for a cotoneaster and last well into winter.
• Cotoneaster tengyuehensis can grow to 10 feet tall and wide and should not be confused with Ilex verticillata ‘Red Sprite’, which also has a stunning crop of red berries in the Witt Winter Garden, but is a much smaller plant.

5)   Ruscus hypoglossum                           Spineless Butcher’s Broom

• Ruscus is found in the same family as asparagus and grows similarly as a creeping rhizome.
• The “leaves” of this plant are actually flattened stem structures called cladodes or sometimes, phylloclades.
• The flowers will appear in the center of the cladodes next to a tiny true leaf.
• Ruscus hypoglossum is dioecious, that is, they have two sexes and both are required to be present to produce fruit.