Garden Talk

A Winter Wonder

Garden Talk with Janine Winlaw | Instagram @janinewinlaw

If there’s one plant guaranteed to lift your spirits on a wintery day, it’s the helebore. Flowering from December right through to spring, it come in a gorgeous range of subtle colours from whites and pale greens to dusky pinks and purples. There are also fancier varieties with double petals or stunning markings. The best way of choosing a plant you love is to buy it now while it’s in flower. For most impact, group at least three together in the front garden, by a path, or where you can see them from a window on a cold day. Most helebores like dappled shade so planting them under a deciduous tree such as a magnolia, is large container in a sheltered semi shady pot with ideal – that way they’ll be shaded in summer. Then well-drained soil (35cm H) mingle snowdrops or cyclamen amongst them to really give your garden the winter wow factor. H. ‘Anna’s Red’ Six Of The Best This is a really popular hellebore with masses of large pinky red flowers on tall dark stems (Feb –

Helleborus niger April). It also has attractive marbled foliage and is

Also known as the Christmas rose, this is a dainty happiest in partial shade (50cm H). white hellebore with yellow stamens and low H. argutifolius growing leathery evergreen foliage. It’s great for containers and one of the earliest to flower (Jan to Feb). Likes partial shade. (30cm H) This larger more sculptural helebore is a fabulous foliage plant with handsome serrated evergreen leaves that’ll give your garden evergreen interest

Helleborus x hybridus (H. orientalis) and structure all year round. The pale green clusters of flowers in pendants are in bloom from

Flowering from Feb to April, this is a popular January to March. Looks great with pink-red flowers hellebore with large dark green leaves and a of Pulmonaria rubra. Likes full sun or partial shade. wonderful range of flowers from the deep pinky/ (50cm H) red ‘Havington Red’ to the striking ‘Yellow Lady’ with maroon speckling. The dark plum varieties H. foetidus such as ‘Single Dusky Grape’ (Ashwood Garden Another large architectural variety with masses of

Hybrids) look great offset with snowdrops or bright bell shaped pale green flowers with purple edges blue Pulmonaria ‘Blue Ensign’. They like partial (Jan – April) above clumps of palm like dark green shade. 45cm H leaves. It likes partial shade. Tall at up to 80cm.

H. x sternii How To Grow

More sun tolerant than most, this is a striking Helebores like moist, rich well drained soil in hellebore as much for its marbled grey foliage as dappled shade – unless its one of the more sun the pretty clusters of pink tinged green flowers tolerant varieties listed above. Try not to let them (Feb – March). It’s happy in full sun or partial dry out as they’re establishing. If they need a shade. ‘Silver Dollar’ is a stunning variety with boost give them a mulch and feed in spring with steely silver serrated leaves – best in containers something like pelleted chicken manure. Prune off in a sunny sheltered position. 40cm. Helleborus last year’s old foliage in January to show off the lividus is similar but less hardy with wonderful new buds and flowers as they grow and deadhead marbled bluish green leaves and clusters of pink- after flowering if you want to avoid them selftinged apple green flowers (Jan – March). Ideal in a seeding.

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