Helleborus 'Vibey Velvet'

Helleborus 'Vibey Velvet' brings a deliciously deep note to the winter garden, with large, upward-facing blooms in rich magenta red, the sort of colour that makes dull days look underdressed. Flowering from winter into early spring, this member of the Frostkiss® hellebores series offers welcome drama when little else is feeling so bold. Helleborus 'Vibey Velvet' forms a hardy, compact evergreen perennial, roughly 50cm tall and wide, with handsome marbled foliage that keeps the show going between flowers. The leaves are beautifully patterned, giving each clump substance as well as sparkle. Helleborus 'Vibey Velvet' has presence, poise and just enough swagger to lift a shady corner.

Plant Helleborus 'Vibey Velvet' in partial shade, ideally in humus-rich, free-draining soil beneath deciduous shrubs, along a path or in a winter container where those velvet-toned flowers can be admired close up. Its dark blooms pair superbly with snowdrops, pale cyclamen, silver pulmonaria foliage and early narcissi, creating that clever contrast gardeners pretend happened entirely by accident. Once settled, Helleborus 'Vibey Velvet' is pleasingly resilient, needing little more than a tidy of older leaves as the buds rise, and it suits smaller gardens without losing impact. For early-season colour with depth, polish and a rather glamorous mood, Helleborus 'Vibey Velvet' is a stylish frostkiss hellebore to treasure.