Pretty flowers, deadly weapons.

A few days ago it was sunny and 16 degrees C. Today, it is wet, dark and a perishing 2 degrees C. The only bit of cheer that I could find in the garden was this colourful, fragrant, winter-flowering Vibernum.

The one interesting thing that I know about the 250 species of Vibernums is that their long straight shoots were used by early man, including Ötzi the Iceman, for making arrow-shafts.