Hello Hellebores

Handsome purple parasols are decorating the tobacco soil early this year, thanks to our  unseasonably clement weather.  Low enough to avoid 'Storm Frank's' hearty gusts,  the moist woodland now hosts the garden's corps de ballet,  perennials performing the prologue to our garden year.

Cool hues of purple are an oasis of calm in the blue January light; crisp, clear and strong.   Opinion is divided on these robust winter treasures.  Here at VGP they grow and multiply with ease, their roots securely watered and tethered in the heavy clay soil, protected from the westerly winds by the ancient hillside.  Hellebores provide shading in the artist's winter palette, pools of cool amongst the stark silhouettes of the resting shrubs and trees.