With their freckled faces and subtle colours of white, plum and mauve, hellebores add a touch of drama and colour to the winter garden.

They can be bashful, their faces pointing downwards, so if you have any changes of level in your garden, consider planting them high so you can gaze up at them.  Prince Charles grows them in the higher nooks of his stumpery and used one as his button-hole at his wedding to the Duchess of Cornwall.