Heaven is hellebores and hepaticas

Just how many hellebores is too many? I found myself wondering this as I gazed down a glasshouse where every inch of staging was filled with plants. I really liked that pink one with the darker purple markings but then the white would stand out better in low light and what about that stunning double.

I was in hellebore heaven and struggling to control the urge to buy everything I saw. These early spring flowers have long been a favourite and so a Garden Media Guild trip to see behind-the-scenes at Ashwood Nurseries was a real treat.

Set up by John Massey, it’s widely acknowledged to be one of the top hellebore breeders and a peek into the glasshouse where they keep the stock plants didn’t disappoint.

Picotee, anemone-centred, doubles, singles and every colour from pure white to the darkest almost black purple, there really is a hellebore to suit every taste – and dozens that I wanted badly.

The Ashwood’s hellebore production is gardening on a grand scale, as our guides Karrina Gilbert and Michael Brookes from the nursery team explained. Seed is collected in fine jewellery bags – they are light enough to be tied onto the plants and the mesh allows air to circulate. Then, every year, around 10,000 seedlings are potted up and grown on.

Not until they flower around three years later will Kevin Belcher, who heads up the propagating section, know exactly what their shape and colour is; the glasshouses are not protected from insects and so unintentional cross pollination is inevitable.

It’s why the hellebores are sold only when they are in flower and are not named beyond the general Helleborus x hybridus ‘Ashwood Garden Hybrids’ and a colour unless they are produced by micro-propagation, a method that’s used for only some plants as John believes seed-grown hellebores are better.

“Micro-propagated plants are the only ones we can sell in leaf because you know what you are going to get,” Karrina told us.

The team are ruthless with the stock plants, discarding around 100 a year.

“We’re constantly going through and selecting and re-selecting the stock,” said Karrina. “It’s very much splitting hairs, the differences are so subtle.”

Over the years, the colours have become clearer and the range extended; this year a double yellow with yellow nectaries in Ashwood’s Evolution range is on sale for the first time.

One of the things the nursery is trying to improve is the leaves and the appearance of the backs of petals. Hellebores are notorious for looking down so often all you see is the back of the flowers.

Yet, although flowers are more upright than they used to be, some hanging down is needed to stop the stamen dropping onto plants and causing rot. Planting them on a slope, or in a raised bed, makes it easier to see into the flowers.

Some of the best plants have been in a freezer since late September in preparation for a display at RHS Chelsea this year. The plants will be brought out in April and coaxed into flower ready for the show in May. It will be Ashwood’s fourth visit to the show and the first time that hellebores will be displayed as a single exhibit.

And on to the hepaticas

An added bonus to the day was a look around John’s hepatica glasshouse – a place stuffed so full of plants he’s installed a moveable staging unit so that space isn’t wasted on a pathway.

Here are just a few that caught my eye.

These tiny jewels of colour entranced us all. I fear another plant addiction is looming.

• Part of the GMG trip was a tour of John’s garden and you can read about that here.

• For details of Ashwood Nurseries, visit the website.