Blooming Gorgeous

Hellebore Winter Sunshine

Last year I interviewed Roger Harvey of Harvey’s Garden Plants near Bury St Edmund’s in Suffolk about his hellebores for the Passionate Gardener series I write in Country Living.  He gave me two wonderful new varieties ‘Winter Moonbeam’ and ‘Winter Sunshine’, but also passed on an invaluable tip.  Hellebores need to grow in open woodland conditions to flower well – if they are tucked under shrubs they will gradually produce fewer and fewer flowers.  This explains the behaviour of the hellebores underneath my hydrangeas – as the hydrangeas have grown larger they have lost the light they need.  I’m going to move them very carefully (they don’t like being moved) to a more open but still shaded area.  ‘Winter Sunshine and ‘Winter Moonbeam’ are already there.