SLOE, SNOWDROP, MAJORCAN HELLEBORE
A silvery, seasonal arrangement inspired by a midwinter visit to Chelsea Physic Garden. Featuring muted foliage, sculptural winter skeletons, Majorcan hellebores and a sprinkling of snowdrops.
JANUARY
INGREDIENTS
Prunus spinosa (sloe)
Potentilla (cinquefoil)
Teucrium fruticans (tree germander)
Pittosporum tenuifolium ‘Variegatum’ (cheesewood)
Helleborus lividus (Majorcan hellebore)
Heuchera ‘Plum Pudding’ (coral bells)
Galanthus nivalis ‘Melvillei’ (snowdrop)
NOTES
At a time when there are very few flowers in the garden I want to celebrate the nuances in colour and variation in texture and shape in the foliage that is still available to us. I mix elegant branches of tree germander (the underbelly of the leaves are white and felty) with Heuchera ‘Plum Pudding’ and a variegated Pittosporum that combines both the silvery green and a warmer reddy brown - the leaves are margined with a dusky pink outline. The dried woody stems of Potentilla give a whiskery softness.
A few hellebores are dotted through the leaves. These are the short-stemmed lividus variety, which refers to the colour of the leaves (the direct translation is "lead-grey") and are native to Majorca. The buds and flowers are pinkish green, with a dull bloom like a grape.
A tiny drift of crisp white snowdrops to finish (the name comes from the Greek words gala meaning "milk" and anthos - "flower" and the species name nivalis means "of the snow". ) This snowdrop is believed to have been bred over one hundred years ago by David Melville, the head gardener of Dunrobin Castle. Five miles south of Brora, the castle is the most northerly of the great houses of Scotland and the largest in the Northern Highlands. It has a formal Victorian garden designed by Sir Charles Barry inspired by those at the Palace of Versailles and today arrangements are still displayed throughout the castle with ingredients cut straight from the garden.
Tips: Instead of snowdrops and hellebores you could try this with primula, crocus, aconite, cyclamen - any of the diminutive late-winter / early spring flowers.