in full bloom | part 3 winter

Floral project for the winter months

How to style a winter garden table with winter flowering bulbs, candles and a hellebore living wreath

Published in Country Living, January 2019

Words and styling by Bea Andrews / Photography by Eva Nemeth

Light and shade in winter

Gardens and landscapes are fundamentally effected by light and shade, but it is never so apparent as it is in winter. Low winter light has a great impact on the way colours appear this time of year and the addition of frost or a dusting of snow can bring a bit of sparkle to the most ordinary of gardens. By creating a place to enjoy outdoors helps to embrace the idea of a cold, frosty morning or the twilight magic of winter’s early dusk.

Natural colour choices

Nature follows a pattern of colours throughout the year as flowers and plants compete for the attention of pollinating insects. In the colder months with fewer active insects around, naturally occurring white and yellow blooms often with heavy scent will stand out most among the monochrome backgrounds. Making them most attractive to pollinators, and successful in reproduction and survival. This basic pale palette is also pleasing to our eyes and works wonderfully in winter displays too.

Iconic winter plants

Many winter flowering plants, shrubs (Sarcococca, Viburnum, Daphne), perennials and early spring bulbs (hyacinths, early narcissi) have deliciously scented, simple pure white flowers that look naturally fitting with any garden setting. They are excellent cut to bring indoors or as part of a floral display to help us enjoy this quiet, calm time of year. One of the earliest perennials to flower is the Christmas rose (Helleborus niger) with its white papery blooms appearing in midwinter, when its beauty is just what is needed to dispel gloom. By adding a few early flowering spring bulbs such as white crocuses or snowdrops will help create a winter tablescape to admire from indoors or to sit by on a crisp winter day.    

Making a hellebore mossed wreath

• Collect a few lichen-covered branches, twigs with catkins depending on what is available around your local countryside. I used blackthorn(Prunus spinosa), alder (Alnus glutinosa) with its catkins and tiny cone-like fruits and purple leaf buds. It grows around damp wooded areas, near streams. Or pick hazel or birch for their similar habit. 

• Shake some of the soil off your 4 hellebore plants and swaddle their roots individually  with sphagnum moss, securing the bundles with twine. Use small pot grown Helleborus niger plants which are inexpensive, with shorter stems and smaller root balls.

• Tie the string to a metal wreath base and start filling it with moss. Add the hellebore bundles placing them equally around the wreath as you go. Insert a selection of twigs  for another layer of texture.

• Keep the moss and the plants moist by watering it on mild days. Use as a table centerpiece outdoors or as part of a display with other plants, candles and lanterns, creating a really atmospheric winter space. I added potted and cut snowdrops, winter flowering heather, hyacinth bulbs, succulents embedded in a layer of moss as a table runner.