Two plants for winter interest: the vivid red berries of Ruscus aculeatus and the marbled leaves of Arum itlalicum. The former I photographed at the South London Botanical Institute, the latter in the back garden.
 The common name of R. aculeatus is Butcher's Broom, and its spiny stems were reputedly used by butchers to sweep their chopping blocks. The berries are so red and perfectly spherical that they almost look like plastic decorations! NB way back in February 2017 I wrote an entry about walking through Epping Forest to search out this rather rare and curious plant.
 A. italicum grows in a difficult and shady area towards the far end of the garden where not much else will grow. I noticed a handsome clump of it over the fence in next door's garden in an adjacent spot and thought: if it does well there it should do well here. And so it proved.