Winter flowers

I made a good decision today. Tuesday, being my 'day off', often runs away with me and I find I've spent the day cleaning and shopping with no time for anything fun.
First thing this morning the sky was blue with not one cloud. So instead of getting out the rubber gloves and vacuum cleaner, I went straight outside. I had about an hour before the clouds started to gather and then we had torrential rain and hail interspersed with sunshine.
I filled up two bags with soggy dead plants and things which were in dire need of being cut down.
As well as that I managed some photos of hellebores before the rain started. I love these. They are so welcome at this time of year. Are they a bit early this year? I'm not sure.
The flowers are so beautiful but you have to get down to see them and lift them up. 

I particulary like the dark ones ( and the light ones). The pale ones don't seem to be so far on and I did have some white ones but the plants have completely disappeard.

This one still has creases in the petals.

When you lift them up you also find the slugs which love to eat them.

 Also just coming into flower is this Daphne odora. It is not a very special looking plant. The leaves often look a bit ropey by the time the flowers come out.

But the scent of the flowers is equisite. This one is just opening. If you don't have this plant, I can't recommend it enough. One tiny sprig of flowers scents a whole room.

 This is a very bad picture of a Sarcococca. It is another evergreen shrub which flowers in winter and has scented flowers. Below you can see the shiny black berries.

PS. I ate my first pick of Purple sprouting broccoli today. It is amazing to be able to harvest something from the soggy bedraggled garden.