Hellebore Heaven!

The 1st of March and a beautiful spring day, and I have a new camera!  It has been a strange winter, not very cold, considering the last few years; but I worry about a hard frost coming.  

Over 200 camellias are in bud at the castle just about to burst into life so a hard frost would render them brown and miserable.   Brambles, nettles and docks are now a thing of the past in the Japanese garden which now devoted only to Camellias, bamboos and some specimen trees. Lets hope Nature is kind.

Today we were working for one of our regular clients, who wanted a woodland shade garden.  This was planned about 5 years ago and today looked quite spectacular.  Planted with Hellebores, snowdrops and Tulips which come to life early in the year.

Next year I would like to add some of the lovely black varieties to compliment the collection.  Hellebores take a long time to bulk up but are certainly worth waiting for.  Plus they produce a lovely glossy textured leaf for the rest of the year which can provide a great foil for white, grey and yellow flowers in the summer.

By mixing snowdrops amongst the hellebores, they create a natural light underneath the flowers as though someone has left a trail of tiny lanterns through the border.  

Look at this!  It shows you how versatile and tough some plants are.  In this stone wall a Brunnera macrophylla has set itself, I didn't have the heart to take it out!  I will give it one year of glory before the glyphosate comes out!