STEP 3 PLANT YOUR BORDER
This is a long-term planting scheme, so break up compacted soil and add plenty of well-rotted organic matter to help create a fertile, moist but well-drained soil. For perennial weeds, smother everything with compost and tarpaulin to keep out the light. Or, add thick layers of cardboard and a compost mulch, regularly removing by hand anything that manages to break through.
1 Start with the cornus
Plant bareroot dogwoods Nov-Mar. Once ‘Flaviramea’ is established and growing strongly it makes a large shrub, so give each plant enough elbow room to show off its lime-green winter stems. A thicket would be spectacular, but just a single dogwood makes a handsome focal point.
When your bareroot shrub arrives, soak its roots in a bucket of water for an hour before planting. Add plenty of compost in and around the planting hole and try to keep the plant at the same level it was previously growing. Firm back the soil, water deeply and finish with a mulch of weed-free organic matter. Give plants an occasional deep soak in dry periods.
After two to three years you can start hard pruning annually, cutting the plant back to a low framework of shoots just before the buds break in spring. The resulting young growth will carry the brightest colour next winter. Use the pruned shoots as hardwood cuttings. Prune strong-growing plants annually or every other year, helping them along with a scattering of balanced fertiliser in spring. ‘Flaviramea’ spreads slowly by suckers.
2 Add the hellebores and carex
Establish new plants of H. argutifolius from autumn to spring when the weather is mild and the ground workable. Look out for healthy container-grown specimens and aim for at least three plants if your wallet can stretch to it. This hellebore does best with moist but well-drained soil in a sheltered spot where it won’t get knocked about by winter storms. You could add a stake or two if snow is forecast. Plants self-sow readily and it’s worth nurturing a rolling stock of replacements because they tend to decline after four or five years. Always move seedlings when they’re young; mature plants resent disturbance.
In spring, intersperse the hellebores with clumps of tussocky Carex flagellifera. This sedge doesn’t like prolonged winter wet, so establish new plants once the ground begins to warm. Its arching wiry foliage is a brilliant contrast for the dark, leathery hellebore leaves. Keep plants looking good by combing through the clumps in spring, teasing out any dead stems and old leaves. By summer it will send up tall spikes of light brown flowers. Large clumps can be divided in spring; or pot up and grow on seedlings.
3 Plant the snowdrops
The best time to establish snowdrops is ‘in the green’, when they’re still in leaf in February and March. Order from specialist nurseries and they’ll be delivered tightly wrapped in the post. Plant them promptly in small clusters 15cm (6in) apart beneath the expected stretch of the cornus branches, placing them at the same depth as they were previously growing.
Allow the foliage to die back naturally. Once your plants begin to clump up, start a rotation of lifting and dividing to spread the snowdrops still further.
4 Finish with the euonymus
The spreading evergreen foliage of euonymus adds a flicker of green and white right through winter. It’s best established in spring or autumn and makes a hard-working background shrub for reliable interest.
It will establish faster in soil that has been generously improved. Be sure to soak the rootball well beforehand. You can encourage it to bush out or spread in the direction you’re after with a little judicious pruning in spring. Cut out any plain green shoots that appear.