It’s time again to sing the praises of this most wonderful of winter plants, an evergreen shrub which various plant hunters have rushed to our gardens from below the snow line of the Nepal Himalaya. It is gradually becoming more affordable and more popular, though not nearly as much as it deserves. Plant it by your back door – it doesn’t matter in what aspect or what soil – and it will give you joy all winter. It grows slowly to about three metres high, becoming hardier and more floriferous each year. The flowers are small, waxy and star-shaped, and they fill the winter air with the most amazing fragrance for several months. Most varieties are pink but there is a white-flowered clone too, usually referred to as “Alba