Well you could have been a little bit braver last week. Just one of you had a go at (correctly) guessing just one of the plants. Well done Anna. Here, for the rest of you, are the answers:
1. Hedera helix ‘Congesta’: upright form of ivy that grows like a shrub, to about 60cm high. Forms a very neat bush of dark green arrowhead-shaped leaves – but it’s quite hard to get hold of.
2. Hedera helix ‘Parsley Crested’, which used to be called H. h. ‘Cristata’, just to be annoying (that’s the name I knew it by). Lovely crinkly-edged margins to the leaves, and grows to about 2m.
3. Hedera colchica ‘Sulphur Heart’, which again went by another name once upon a time: this was H. c. ‘Paddy’s Pride’. This is a young shoot: the mature leaves are about 8″ long plus and big, floppy, ungainly things.
4. As Anna correctly guessed, this is Chimonanthus praecox – aka wintersweet.
5. And the last ivy: Hedera helix ‘Oro di Bogliasco’, an eye-catching if not eye-boggling combination of red stem, and yellow-and-green leaves. It’s got a neat habit but it’s a bit … erm… bright.
On to this week’s, and we got away from the twigs-on-desktops vibe and actually got outside for once. They aren’t quite so difficult this time, either, so I’m not giving you a clue apart from the last one which I hadn’t even heard of before, let alone grown. As a general clue: just remember all these plants are flowering now.
1. 
2.
3.
4.
5. 
(clue: it’s evergreen, it has those little yellow flowers all winter, and it’s a neat little shrub about 2ft tall. )
Enjoy 😀
Sally Nex 
First two are1) Erantis Hyemalis – don´t know the english name since we just call them erantis2)Hammelis vernalis – Witchazel flowerNot sure about the rest4)Looks like cherry blossoms
Hi Niels, yes it’s Eranthis hyemalis for no. 1 (we call them winter aconites)2) very nearly… but not quite. You got the common name correct, but I need the right Latin and the cultivar too :Dand 4) good guess, nearly nearly…
Well, I would have never identified the ivies in a month of Sundays:) I think number 2 is one that himself has recently treated me to but the Latin terminology is not tripping off my tongue at the moment, so I will have to venture out to check the label :)I think that number 4 might one that I have in the garden : Prunus x subhirtella ‘Autumnalis’.
Top marks to Anna! no. 4 is indeed Prunus x subhirtella ‘Autumnalis’. One of the very finest winter-flowering cherries for a small garden. And a prized plant of mine in my front garden which I witter on about here from time to time.two down… three to go.
Number 3’s Lonicera x purpusii ‘Winter Beauty’. If not, then it’s the other and I bags telling you what it is first!I’ve just been photographing my winter aconites out in the snow – will be posting them in a few minutes.Our local college is doing a plant ID course in May – I might be able to do this a bit better after that 😉
And just you wait til my Prunus mume gets going – it’s absolutely covered in buds at the moment – it’ll give your Prunus a run for its money!
sorry VP – it’s the other one! :Dget in there quick…looking forward to your aconitesand my little prunus will forever have a place in my heart just for flowering its heart out right now in the midst of the snow.
2) Hammelis x intermedia ‘Jelena’The flowers do not look red enough to be Hammelis x intermedia ‘Diana’ but it is one of them!
I have looked at my label now but see that Niels has beaten me to it 🙂 I am foxed by the little yellow flowered shrub.
well done Niels – that’s two to you! The correct spelling is Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Jelena’ if you want to be picky. The colour is absolutely lovely – a kind of burnt sugar. And the perfume…and Anna – I suspect most people will be foxed by the little yellow-flowered shrub 😀 lots and lots of brownie points to anyone who guesses that one…
It’s Lonicera frangrantissima then!
Oops that should be fragrantissima!Here’s the aconites…
bingo! well done VP :DFor anyone who doesn’t know it, winter-flowering honeysuckle is a highly-scented and semi-evergreen star of the winter garden, but unfortunately it’s a bit unruly and tends to flop about a bit for the rest of the year. You can forgive it though for these lovely sweet flowers.And L. x purpusii ‘Winter Beauty’ is very nearly exactly the same. So VP ought to get two points really!
well what is and e or a between gardeners? – with my broken english noone could tell the difference anyway .-)Nr. 5 is: Euryops virgineus
Wow – Niels, I take my hat off to you. I really didn’t think anyone was going to get that.Do you grow it? I’ve never come across it except the very lovely one by the entrance to my college, which is now flowering its socks off and evergreen to boot. They have the most lovely little fine leaves in neat sprays. Beautiful thing. Anyway – very well done, Niels, and lots of kudos to you. Next week is going to be tricky – I had to miss college this week because of the snow, so while I do have a plant ident to learn, it’s from pics on the internet and such, not actual samples. But I’ll see what I can do…!
No. I do not know anyone besides you now, who grows it. I had actually given up on this one since the only plant I know that flowers with yellow flowers in the wintertime, is winter jasmine. But I was reading gardenblogs and Jana on the blog – a rose garden – had posted a picture of a potted Euryops chrysanthemoides. I went to your blog and sure it did look a member of the Euryops genus – even though the foliage was not the same. I made a google picture search and typed euryops – and there it came up!So it really was a conincidence and my inability to let go of a challenge that gave it away :-).Good job on the Visteria pruning – it is rare to see such old visterias – Visteria Lane sure looks different in the UK!