There are still some beautiful blooms to be seen even though winter is approaching. I saw this magnificent Mahonia lomarifolia yesterday at the South London Botanical Institute. Winter flowers in an English garden are invariably a plant of distant origins as is the case here; China and Myanmar are the natural habitat of this species.
 Mahonia is much used by gardeners and the Mahonia x media hybrids are widely available. They look rather similar to the one above which is not surprising because they are a cultivated cross between M. lomarifolia and M. japonica. They're fine but the straight species is particularly striking and architectural and not often grown in the UK.