A real highlight for the winter garden, traditional Helleborus niger (also known as Christmas Rose) produce an abundance of beautiful snow-white blooms from December right through to early spring each year. These hardy and unfussy perennials are such a joy to have in the garden, providing a pleasing display of blooms which you can always rely on each year. A woodland or cottage garden classic, but also quite fitting in a modern or minimalist planting scheme, these fuss-free and versatile plants are happy in most gardens, large or small and in shade or sun. What’s more, the nectar-rich flowers are a valuable lifeline for early-emerging bumblebees. Plant hellebores in neutral or alkaline soil, in dappled shade. Hellebores prefer a moist, humus rich, fertile soil that does not dry out in summer or sit waterlogged in winter. When growing hellebores on heavy clay or free draining gravel soils, add plenty of well-rotted leaf mould or other organic matter to the soil prior to planting. M