Witchhazels are a winter favorite.  Hamamelis vernalis 'Quasimodo' is a semi-dwarf with a compact spreading habit.   

 'Quasimodo' has small, spider-like, fragrant flowers.

 Joys of late winter in the garden ...

Crocus are peeping through the ground.

Galanthus 'Lady Beatrix Stanley' is an adorable snowdrop.  It is a fully double with nodding white flowers with small green teardrops at the tips of their inner petals. The long, narrow outer petals enclose the inner petals which resemble many layered petticoats. Note the little green teardrops in the photo below.

These snowdrops will happily multiply to form large colonies.  I noticed just this year that I have several more than I did last year, and I am looking forward to enjoying many more!

 I didn't realize that "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire" would come to life in our woodland garden when our well house caught on fire!  Two of our wonderful neighbors called us when they saw the fire as we are unable to see the well from our home.  The well companies are slammed right now as they have many customers with no water.  Thankfully was don't have that issue, so we can certainly wait our turn which they tell us will probably be a month.  Happy to report that MapleWalk and all the animals are safe and sound.  

With temperatures in the mid teens over the past week, we brought the outdoor bunnies inside for several days. 

Butter and Peppercorn are true snuggle bunnies!

This Acer palmatum 'Oregon Sunset' is a small tree and a good choice  for limited space.  The fall color is a vivid sunset-red color.  Wow!

Acer palmatum 'Oregon Sunset'

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I find the fall color of Acer palmatum 'Kagiri nishiki' a favorite.  The basic leaf color is a deep green with a bluish cast with cream margins.  Blended with, or suffused over, are markings of pink or rose colors.  In spring, these rose markings are quite distinct.  The rose and cream areas change into a vivid rose-crimson.  Stunning!

Acer palmatum 'Kagiri nishiki'

What a special treat we enjoyed today! Matt Nichols, Brian Rule, along with their videographer, visited us at MapleWalk.  We hope this will be the first of many visits!  They interviewed Tom for content about their visit for their YouTube channel.  Stay tuned ...

Our Mahonia japonica 'Winter Sun' is stunning this fall and loaded with blooms.  Soon I can look forward to the dark purple berry clusters, hence the name "Oregon Grape Holly."  The birds love the berries, and when they are perfectly ripe, they can strip the plant at one sitting. 

The finishing touch to the new bunny enclosure ...

 

Well, sometimes there are unexpected surprises in the garden that you don't appreciate ... like this!!!

Sunday afternoon I went out to the rabbit hutch to check on the bunnies, and this is what I found ... a big tree limb had crashed through the roof of the hutch!!  Thankfully, Butter and Peppercorn were fine.

The bunnies got a sun roof that they didn't ask for!

As we all know, duct tape has many uses!  Tom and I were able to remove the tree limb from inside the hutch and off the roof, and I got out the duct tape to repair the hole until Jake could get out the next day to make the roofing repair.  

Our Japanese maples seem to be slow in turning this fall, but Tom reminded me that last year it was November 20th when our maples were full of color in the garden, so while I wait, our Camellia sasanquas have plenty of color.

Camellia sasanqua 'Old Glory'
Hard to beat this combination of color ... white, pink and yellow!

 Papaver somniferum 'Lauren's Grape' is a favorite poppy.  I save the seed pods every year and distribute the seeds ideally at Halloween, but I'm a bit late this year and just sprinkled the seeds yesterday.  

Last year I just had a few of the dark purple color as most had reverted to a salmon pink color which was OK with me as I liked them ALMOST as much as the purple.  

I couldn't resist putting a dish of the poppy seed pods in a dish to display in the house.