ITS easy to be a hell of a bore about hellebores but there is little doubt that their increased popularity has made a significant impact on our winter gardens over the past few decades. When I first started growing hellebores the range of colours was limited and named varieties rivalled today’s collectors’ snowdrops in price. A few enlightened nurseries however started to raise colour strains from seed and so now we have a vast array of colours and flower forms to choose from at affordable prices. Ashwood and Harvington Nurseries both offer an excellent range of plants, the latter available in some local garden centres. I would always buy hellebores in flower so that you can see what you are getting since seed-raised strains will vary and some are better than others. Even my own seedlings however that do not quite make the grade are not wasted, since they used as fillers in some of the shadier parts of the garden and even on the roadside where passers-by benefit from their long-lasting blooms. One garden where hellebores are used to great effect is Gresgarth Hall near Caton, the home of garden designer Arabella Lennox-Boyd. The garden is open on Sunday March 13 (11am-3pm) with the entrance fee including a mug of hot chocolate. Gresgarth also has a good selection of that other stalwart of the Winter garden, the witch hazel. Don’t as someone I know mistake it for a common hazel and prune it down to the ground though. Witch hazels are slow growing and rarely need pruning, although larger specimens can be spur-pruned in a similar way to apples.

March is a busy month for the secateurs with a whole host of woody plants benefitting from careful pruning. Dogwoods and others shrubs grown for winter stem colour can be pruned hard back before the end of the month, a technique known as coppicing or stooling. The new growths that arise will provide a vibrant display the following winter. Hybid tea and floribunda roses flower on new growth and so can also be hard pruned. Shrub roses need more gentle treatment and so it is always worth ensuring you know precisely what you are pruning. The butterfly bush, Buddleia davidii can be pruned back now before new growth starts, not only will you get a better display but it avoids the shrub becoming top heavy and susceptible to strong winds. Skipton in Bloom are starting their monthly work days on the first Wednesday of the month, meeting at the Diamond Jubilee Garden on Newmarket Street at 9.30 am. No doubt seasonal pruning will be one of the main tasks to ensure the continued success of this colourful little garden. Further details at info@skiptoninbloom.co.uk. At the college we have just trimmed our wildlife hedges before the hedgerow birds start to stake their claim. It is important to check for nests before carrying out any pruning so that you don’t disturb the nesting birds.

Oxenhope Gardening Club will be having a visit from Tom Hart-Dyke on Thursday March 17. Tom was kidnapped by rebels when on a plant hunting trip to the Panamanian jungle highlighting the risks still taken by modern day plant hunters, although things are somewhat easier than in the days of Wilson, Forrest and Farrer. Tom is talking about the gardens at his ancestral home, Lullingstone Castle. Entry is £10 by ticket for non-members.

I am surprised that there are not more National Garden Scheme gardens open locally over the coming month. One that is however, is the delightful Old Vicarage at Whixley, on March 20. The NGS is also promoting those gardens within the scheme that have a Capability Brown connection, since 2016 is the 300th anniversary of his birth. Brown did much to popularise the English style of landscape gardening, designing over 170 gardens in Britain. He is often described as England's greatest gardener, although for some he is more of a horticultural villain than hero due to the way earlier gardens were swept away in favour of the naturalistic look – a kind of horticultural reformation.

The alpine shows run by the Alpine Garden Society are a weekly feature throughout the spring. The Kendal show held at Kirkbie Kendal School is on March 12 and the East Lancs show held in Whitworth Civic Hall is on the 19th March. Lots of early bulbs feature in these shows but of course many are easily grown in the garden. As I mentioned last time crocuses will be at their best over the next few weeks and a visit to Harrogate on a sunny day should reward you with a spectacular display. Whilst crocuses are best planted in the autumn, should you be considering your own crocus lawn, there are other features than can be planted now. Meadows of hardy annuals are a simple and low cost way of bringing colour into the garden and should be sown over the coming weeks for a summer spectacle. There are now some excellent mixes available for different situations, offering the perfect solution for that patch of ground that you haven’t yet got round to planting.