Life

The Casual Gardener: Winter wonder

With its bashful-looking flower heads boasting a variety of colours, the hellebore stands out a mile in the winter garden, writes John Manley

The hellebore is bloom when all around is dormant
The hellebore is bloom when all around is dormant The hellebore is bloom when all around is dormant

THE garden is an inhospitable place in the depths of winter. Damp ground and limited daylight means there’s little to tempt us outside, especially when inside there is central heating or a roaring fire.

Personal preference means my own planting schemes are designed to climax in late summer, which often leads me to neglect other times of the year. Most of the stars of the my winter garden are either trees or shrubs like the dogwoods, cotoneasters and viburnum – their brash bark, berries or foliage add a welcome burst of colour to the garden when most plants are various shades of either green or brown.

However, if you do manage to get beyond the threshold and take time to stop and contemplate the quieter recesses of the garden during the winter months, you'll hopefully find a flower that appears almost embarrassed by the fact that it’s in bloom when all around is dormant.

Also known as the ‘Christmas rose’ or ‘Lenten rose’, the hellebore’s flowerhead leans forward, which while giving the impression of modesty, is no doubt the plant’s way of protecting its reproductive parts from the winter elements. Despite the festive reference in its common name, hellebores are not always in flower around this time of year and the blooms generally begin to peak as winter begins to wane. However, if you’re heart is set on a variety that flowers at Christmas then it’s recommended to visit the garden centre and choose one for yourself that’s in bloom.

The variety of hellebore flower colours is impressive – they come in white, cream, pink, purple or green, sometimes with gorgeous detailing in the form of spots or contrasting margins. Requiring little maintenance in return for a wonderful show and with a flowering season that stretches through to April, hellebores will often augment their numbers by self-sowing, the native evergreen H. foetidus, being particularly good in this respect.

Plants of the woodland margin, they are happiest where they can enjoy both sun and shade. Near trees or taller plants is perfect, for example in the naturalistic setting of an open woodland garden or in a mixed or shrub border. They are tolerant of a range of soils, but prefer moist, fertile, humus rich soils and will get off to a flying start if you improve the soil at the time of planting with leaf mould or compost.

Your choice of variety or cultivar should be dictated by setting. If very dark, almost black, they can become invisible in shade and are therefore best viewed close up. In bed and borders they are best planted among taller perennials that will mask them off-season. To protect these largely disease-free perennials from fungal leaf-spotting, spray or drench with a fungicide from a long-spouted watering can.

Some classic choices for hellebores are: Helleborus niger ‘Potter’s Wheel’, with its large white flowers with green-eyes or Helleborus x ballardiae ‘December Dawn’ which has big (6-8cm across) white flowers, flushed pinkish-purple. Helleborus foetidus (stinking hellebore) is called this because the leaves give off an unpleasant smell if crushed, but the flowers are a fabulous green and often have the exquisite detail of being purple-margined.

Helleborus foetidus ‘Miss Jekyll’ contradicts the name of ‘stinking’ by having lovely fragrant flowers! As a final suggestion, look out for the much loved Helleborus hybridus ‘Peggy Ballard’ with its gorgeous deep pink flowers.