Garden Design

Witch hazel, which blooms in the middle of winter, is a natural remedy for the wintertime blues. With flowers that resemble delicate bits of yellow, copper, or red ribbon, witch hazel is not only a burst of color, but can also produce a delicious and powerful fragrance in the icy air. Plus: We list six of our favorite witch hazel varieties.

Not since the likes of Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors has their been a botanical diva like Lois, the Corpse Flower, in Houston. One might call her the Snooki of the plant world, with a giant poof and an attitude even stronger than her smell. We chat with Lois, who gained her fame with her stink and her Twitter stream last year, about how life—now that her 15-minutes of fame is over—has been treating her. We discover that this Titan arum has still got her groove on.

We lust over the many magnolias in the Rare Find Nursery catalog.

A vibrant groundcover for the shade garden, Lamium maculatum ‘Anne Greenaway’ forms a 6- to 8-inch-tall mass of scallop-edged variegated leaves that glitter with chartreuse, silver and mint green. Clusters of small lilac-mauve flowers add to the display in late spring, but the foliage can last all year in mild-winter regions. Perennial.