Helleborus 'Winter Sunshine'

Helleborus 'Winter Sunshine' is a quietly luminous hellebore, just when the garden most appreciates a little encouragement. From late winter into early spring, its large creamy-white flowers open with green centres and long, pale stamens, then gradually blush to pinkish red as they mature, giving each clump a beautifully shifting palette. Reaching around 45cm high, Helleborus 'Winter Sunshine' forms a handsome, semi-evergreen mound of glossy dark olive-green leaves, their pewter-grey veining adding interest long before the buds begin to lift. It has that rare winter quality of looking refined without seeming fragile, which is very useful when the weather is behaving badly.

Plant Helleborus 'Winter Sunshine' in dappled shade, beneath deciduous shrubs or at the front of a woodland-style border, where its flowers can be admired close up. The blooms are elegant with snowdrops, cyclamen and early narcissi, while the foliage provides a composed, architectural backdrop as spring gathers pace. Helleborus 'Winter Sunshine' is particularly good for naturalistic planting, bringing softness, structure and a welcome gleam to quiet corners. Once settled, this clump-forming perennial asks for very little beyond decent soil and the occasional tidy of tired leaves. For a hellebore with poise, warmth and excellent winter timing, Helleborus 'Winter Sunshine' is a very civilised answer to the gloom.