Hellebores: the winter star arrives at Rooted

This week a box arrived from Twelve Nunns nursery in Lincolnshire - 24 plugs of Harvington Hellebores across four named varieties, and one of the most exciting deliveries since Rooted began.

Hellebores are one of those plants that serious gardeners seek out and everyone else walks past without realising what they're missing. They flower in the depths of winter - December through to March - when almost nothing else is going. They're fully hardy, they come back year after year, and the named varieties produce flowers of extraordinary depth and complexity. These are not the anonymous hellebores you find in a supermarket. These are the Harvington collection - bred at Harvington in Worcestershire and considered among the finest named hellebores available in the UK.

The four varieties arriving at Rooted this spring are Harvington Double Pink, Harvington Double White, Harvington Double Purple and Harvington Single Black. The black is the one that stops people in their tracks. Near-black flowers with a cluster of pale stamens at the centre — there is nothing else quite like it in a winter garden.

The plugs arrived in excellent condition with strong root systems already established. Several came as doubles - two plants in one plug - which with careful separation yielded 30 pots rather than the 24 ordered. A good sign of vigorous, healthy stock.

They're now potted into 3L pots and positioned in a sheltered spot against a south-facing wall - partial shade, good drainage, exactly where hellebores like to be. Through summer they'll grow quietly, building their root systems and putting on foliage. Come November the flower buds will start forming, and by December they'll be ready to sell.

These will be available from the village shop in Abbots Bromley from late autumn, priced at £15 per 3L pot. If you'd like to reserve one of a specific variety — particularly the Single Black, which I expect to sell quickly — get in touch via the details below or follow along on Instagram at @rootedgrows for updates as they grow.

Tom @Rooted — Abbots Bromley

rootedgrows.uk@gmail.com