Winter interest in my garden

This little vignette is next to the back door. I bought the Helleborus 'Cinnamon Snow' just a couple of weeks ago (I needed to get out and visit some nurseries one afternoon) and the Lonicera nitida 'Lemon Beauty' seemed like a great accompaniment. I don't know if I'll keep the lonicera long term, but it's making me happy here.
Walking around the side of the house, down the driveway and out to the front garden my eyes are first drawn to the structure—legs—of the Fatsia japonica and Arctostaphylos x 'Austin Griffiths'. Then my eyes drift down to the yuccas, dasylirion and the brown cloud of Pittosporum anomalum at ground level.
Walking further down the drive and glancing up the sidewalk towards the front door a few agaves come into view—they look great from a distance, up close though some reveal their winter battle scars.
At the end of the drive (where it meets the public sidewalk), 'Austin' is king again along with that pair of spiky Yucca rostrata and the powder blue Agave ovatifolia 'Frosty Blue'. I should also mention the ground cover—Juniperus conferta 'Blue Pacific'. It requires nothing and always looks great.
I'm standing in the hell-strip now, and looking towards the front of the house. Arctostaphylos 'Monica' is at Austin's side—honestly I was pretty set on removing her this summer, but now I'm thinking with just a good pruning she may earn another year. Several Agave parryi 'JC Raulston' are "sprinkled" thru the front garden.
On the far right is my third manzanita, Arctostaphylos densiflora ‘Harmony’, it's the oldest and the shortest.
Now a few close-ups of things I find especially interesting this time of year. 

Yucca filamentosa 'Color Guard', common as dirt but it lights up a dreary day. This plant (in the hellstrip) was lightly backlit when I photographed it.
Whereas this one was not. You can see how the light changes the power of the yellow stripe.
Callistemon 'Woodlander's Hardy Red'—both above with the yucca, and below.
Bright green foliage, those killer seed pods, what's not to love? The blue foliage behind the callistemon is a Dasylirion wheeleri.
Another callistemon, this one with finer foliage, Callistemon sieberi.
Oh look, there's Austin again! This time he's joined by Callistemon 'Woodlander's Hardy Red' and Erica arborea var. alpina.
Mahonia nervosa colored up for the winter—and yes, more callistemon. I have four of them in my small front garden so they do touch a lot of other plants.
Early in December I grabbed this cryptomeria on a nursery outing, I'd pulled the potted agave that was sitting in this spot (wanting to protect it for the winter) and thought this would be an interesting feature plant right next to the front steps. Unfortunately the pot I grabbed didn't have a label so I'm not sure which one it is, I am guessing maybe Cryptomeria japonica 'Globosa Nana'? That's my Daphne x houtteana on the right, it's a little defoliated and not looking it's best at the moment. 
Leafless in the wintertime the spikes of trifoliate orange, Poncirus trifoliata really shine. Mine has an odd bit of yellow variegation.
Here's a close-up of one of those Agave parryi 'JC Raulston' I mentioned. It's doing great, just needs a clean-out of those leaves and needles.
A few more 'JC Raulston' along with a close up of Austin's sexy legs.

Leucothoe fontanesiana 'Rainbow'
There's a lot going on in this photo, but what I wanted to call your attention to are the Aristaloe aristata, the short rosettes. They make me very happy.
As does this—several years ago a friend shared some Hellebores foetidus seedlings with me and I'm finally going to get blooms! The damn rabbit(s) ate them back to almost nothing a couple years in a row.
Rather than share a garden perspective on the Edgeworthia chrysantha 'Nanjing Gold' I thought it might be fun to show you what I see from inside the house. This window is in our kitchen, I eat my breakfast here every morning, and somedays lunch.
I have an extraordinary view of the edgeworthia from that window. It's prime viewing when the flowers start to open and hummingbirds feed on them. Even when the plant isn't in bloom the branches offer a great perch for birds to observe the garden from, safe with their back to the house. I have a lot of bird watching opportunities...
Here's the view thru our glass front door (in the living room) when the wooden door is open.
The view from the living room window. On the lower right, the shrub with the largish leaves and pink petioles is Mahonia gracilipes.

Lonicera crassifolia with it's fabulous winter color—the agave is A. 'Mateo'.
Looking along the back of our house towards the neighbor's garage, the orange wall. The black mondo grass (Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Nigrescens') has filled in nicely. This sight-line is normally blocked by bananas, Musa Basjoo. The December cold killed them back to the ground.
The bark on the far left (above) belongs to Callistemon virdiflorus, it's pretty fabulous...

I planted several aspidistra last spring, many of them took a serious hit in the December storm, this one looks good though.

I shared this photo on Instagram and the crowd went wild for the variegated aspidistra. I have Peter (The Outlaw) to thank for it. My back was to the house as I took this shot, it's a perspective I don't think I've shared before.
Another pyrrosia that's looking good, P. hastata. I divided a really healthy chunk last autumn and planted it around the garden.
During the cold snap I pulled the pair of fascicularia tucked into the trunk of a Trachycarpus fortunei 'Wagnerianus'. They went into the shade pavilion greenhouse until the temperatures were above freezing, then I returned them to their perch. One had rooted into the tree, I hated pulling it free.
Interestingly I missed a small piece of the Tillandsia usneoides when I pulled them inside last fall. It's been hanging here all winter and it still looks to be alive!
Winter interest on the Hibiscus syriacus 'Red Heart' consists of little tufts of moss on it's bare branches.
The orange wall definitely brightens up a grey January day.
But it looks even better when the sun makes a brief (ever so brief) appearance.
More fuzzy edgeworthia-bud interest, this the orange-blooming E. chrysantha ‘Akebono’.
Powerful color from the Astelia 'Red Devil', thankfully it's solid after the freeze, the same can't be said for many other astelia in the garden—I'm planning the flip side of this "winter interest" post on Friday, a "winter horror" post and you'll see the unfortunate characters then.
Fuzzy Magnolia laevifolia buds.
And loquat blooms! Eriobotrya japonica.
Here's a bit of a mess, the Stachyurus salicifolius that grows over this area continues to defoliate after the cold, it's leaves are everywhere. I wanted to share this section though because there's a lot of good stuff in there if you can ignore the fallen leaves and the toasted tips of the podocarpus on  the right.
Pyrrosia sp. SEH#12547
Pyrrosia lingua 'Eboshi'
Sammy (Yucca rostrata) screams winter interest doesn't he?
In the name of complete transparency here's a pulled back shot that includes the three split bamboo "tunnels" left in place all winter to help keep a few things drier than they would otherwise be. They're not pretty, but they're performing an important job. That's Nolina hibernica 'La Siberica' in front, with another Yucca rostrata.
Another Nolina hibernica 'La Siberica' in a different part of the back garden.
Looking accross the patio at the fence the borders the west side of the garden. If you were to look closely at the patch of aspidistra you'd see many storm-damaged leaves that will need to be removed. The big leaves on the far left are bamboo, Sasa palmata f. nebulosa.
Mahonia x media 'Marvel' and Trachycarpus fortunei var Nainital.
You knew I had to share a photo of the variegated Daphniphyllum, right?
Another Mahonia x media 'Marvel'.
Fatsia japonica 'Murakumo Nishiki'
And (finally), a photo of the pyrrosia and friends in a stock tank—protected during our cold snap. I'm pretty lucky to have so many extraordinary plants to bring me winter-time garden joy...