A couple of weeks ago, when I was giving the Dogwood shrubs their annual trim, I removed two of them in order to free-up some space for more flowers, and last weekend I filled the space with Hellebores:
These Hellebores are the ones I bought last Autumn in a set of plug-plants being offered by Hayloft Plants.
The collection has six plants, but one of mine nearly died, and although it is recovering, it is not yet big enough for planting out. These little plants are going to be overshadowed by the Cotinus shrub whose trunk you see just behind them in my photos, but I have researched this and I reckon they will be OK. Hellebores are said to like dappled shade.In the Autumn I cleared away most of the old and woody Sage plants from this same border, and this has let in a lot more light, prompting some vigorous growth by the Crocosmia:
That Crocosmia has been there for many years, but has never done well because it doesn't get enough light - or didn't. Maybe this year it will be better?
At one end of the border are my Snakeshead Fritillaries. They are not yet in full flower, but there are plenty of buds. This is one of the purple ones:
And these ones are the white variety:
Around the bases of the mature (3-year-old) plants, there are lots of youngsters:
And all over the place are the tiny seedlings emerging from the seeds which I scattered last year (interspersed with young Wild Garlic plants, you'll notice). This time next year I should have a spectacular display of Fritillaries!
In the border by the shed (at right angles to the one with the Hellebores in it), I have a nice bright patch of Primroses:
Normally this bed would be awash with Euphorbia by now, but this year the Euphorbia is very sparse by normal standards. I don't know why this is. Perhaps it is because of the wet but mild Winter we had?
