By August we are just hanging out for something gorgeous, fresh and preferably 'pink' to appear in our gardens after the drabness of winter brown and grey which feels as though it's been going on forever. So I've been trawling around in my garden, looking for some early treats - see below what I have found! HELLEBORES ARE IT even though their pink can be quite muted. But aren't they the flower of winter? Or should we say late winter/early spring. Mine don't start to flower till July, but other cleverer gardeners seem to get them flowering much earlier. And broad beans are IT too! Especially the ones that have these delightfully cerise flowers!! They are called 'Hughey' as they were especially selected and raised by Denis Hughes, right here in the South Island almost locally at Blue Mountain Nurseries, in Tapanui, Southland. And if you sow the seed in the autumn you are rewarded with this bonus at the very dreariest time of year! Surprise! Surprise! These very special seeds are available from - of all places - The Warehouse!! Back to the ornamentals - as though 'Hughey' wasn't ornamental enough!! It certainly is! But we are more accustomed to noticing those very early Camellias, and the ones that appeal to me most in my garden, are the simplicity of the early single variety's. But every now and again, one hankers after the creme de la creme of Hellebores - a special named variety - something rare unusual and rather grand in Helleborus terms. I do have one from the special Living Fashion Designer Series called 'Anna's Red'. Which quite by accident happens to look good clustered around a red flax! An example of unlikely bedfellows hitting it off! You can't talk about late winter without mentioning 'Snowdrops'! And mine are modest compared to most. Even though I do not have a big enough garden with space to allow Snowdrops to spread into wonderful drifts where they can naturalise, I can still satisfy my Snowdrop mania with a few clumps of them in a garden bed or 2 within my urban garden. Any gardener worth their salt, would want to finish the winter with Snowdrops!
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