A celebration of Hellebores

A Celebration of Hellebores

Scotland’s Gardens Scheme Launches New Hellebore Festival for 2026

Scotland’s Gardens Scheme is unveiling a brand-new addition to the national garden calendar, A Celebration of Hellebores, launching in early 2026. This new festival will spotlight one of the most captivating groups of winter-into-spring plants and give visitors a reason to get back into gardens after the early delights of snowdrops but before the main season begins.

The pilot takes place across six Fife gardens, each opening between late February and mid-April to showcase the extraordinary diversity of hellebore hybrids, this unsung hero of the spring garden. These gardens — from the intimate garden at No. 1 Aldburne Park, to the sweeping woodland and walled landscapes of Teasses — collectively display hundreds of plants in colours spanning slate, purple, pink, white, green, and yellow, with both single and double forms celebrated. Every participating garden in Fife will also host a hellebore plant stall, giving visitors the chance to take home their favourites.

Details from the festival programme highlight the scale and richness of the pilot:

1 Alburne Park Saturday 28th February and Sunday 1st March 1-4pm

This smaller-sized garden packs a punch in late winter / early spring with a fine display of hellebores. A collection of over 100 of these beautiful plants has been built up over the last few years and nursery grown hellebores are constantly being supplemented by plants grown from collected seed. The collection includes hellebores in a wide range of colours in both the single and double forms. Home grown double whites are a particular favourite. The garden is bordered by trees on its long side which provide a backdrop to the garden and supply the partial shade which hellebores love. Other plantings including acers, magnolia and rhododendrons all add to the woodland feel.

Own grown and Ashwood Nursery Hellebore plant stall.

1 Alburne Park Hellebores

Willowhill Sunday 15th and Monday 16th March 1-4pm

Over 200 hellebores in shades of colours from black/slate shades through purples and pinks to whites, green, yellow/red and pale yellows. The garden is mainly planted with Helleborus x hybridus Ashwood Garden Hybrids ‘Evolution Group’ with large outward facing blooms on strong stems which hold their heads up for all to see the wonderful flower colour and detail even at the back of 20ft deep borders.

Plant stall with Ashwood Nursery Garden Hybrid Hellebores.

Hellebores at Willowhill

Kirklands Saturday and Sunday 21st and 22nd March 2-4.30pm

Kirklands is opening late March where hellebores and wood anemones combine to great effect. Sloping woodland paths against banks with hellebore plantings provide easy viewing of the complex flower patterns. The garden has a long season of interest with woodland plantings, herbaceous borders and a south facing walled garden with strong structural elements; terraces, walls and raised beds for growing fruit and vegetables. A great visitor attraction is the plant stall with Kirkland’s hellebores and other plants including meconopsis, trillium grandiflorum and other delights.

Large Plant stall and refreshments.

A collection of Hellebores at Kirklands

Teasses Sat 28th March 2026 10.30am- 3.30pm

Wonderful walks throughout this 60- acre romantic garden with over 150 hellebores planted in clusters throughout the restored Victorian walled garden, formal gardens and decorative woodlands. Early bulbs including thousands of early daffodils carpeting the woodland garden will be in flower too.

Plant stall with Ashwood Nursery Garden Hybrid Hellebores and refreshments in the magnificent glasshouse.

Millfield Garden 4th and 5th April 2-5pm

Millfield is set on the edge of the beautiful and historic village of Falkland. Millfield is opening for hellebores with fine displays throughout the walled garden and along woodland paths. Also in flower early April will be hundreds of naturalized bulbs in the meadows, and other early season delights throughout the gardens and in the greenhouses including pulmonaria, erythronium, primula, hepatica and primula auricula.

Plant stall with Ashwood Nursery Garden Hybrid Hellebores.

Millfield House Hellebores

The Tower Friday and Saturday 10th and 11th April 1-4pm

Discover the Delicate Beauty of Spring Hellebores. Step back in time and uncover the hidden charm of an Edwardian rock garden in springtime. Overgrown for decades a hidden grotto has been revealed, tucked into terraced slopes and shaped by the romantic ideals of the early 20th century. This unique garden offers a rare opportunity to wander among terraces and borders blooming with the soft, elegant charm of spring hellebores. Nestled above the shimmering River Tay, this timeless haven bursts into life as hellebores nod gently in the breeze — a quiet celebration of nature’s early promise. Come and experience this graceful revival where heritage meets horticulture.

Plant stall with Ashwood Nursery Garden Hybrid Hellebores.

Hellebores at The Tower

While Fife is leading the pilot, enthusiasm is already spreading. The Limes in Kirkcudbright, a much-loved spring garden in Dumfries and Galloway, has confirmed it will join the celebration too — offering a glimpse of how the festival could grow into a nationwide hellebore showcase in years ahead.

Hellebores at The Limes

“Our aim is to bring people back into gardens earlier in the year and shine a light on a plant that thrives when little else is in bloom, but brings a lot to the garden through the increasing range of colour and forms on offer, backed by its dramatic evergreen foliage which is the backbone of any winter garden,” said Sally Lorimore, Willowhill Garden owner and pioneer of the Hellebore Festival. “While we’re starting in Fife, we hope to encourage garden owners from around Scotland to join in and that hellebores could become a defining early-season hallmark for our open gardens programme.”