CURRANT & PERIWINKLE
MARCH
Korean bowl
Small kenzan
Deadnettle (Lamium purpureum)
Flowering currant (Ribes sanguineum 'White Icicle')
Hellebore (Helleborus 'Harvington Red', ‘Harvington Black’ & 'Harvington White Speckled')
Hyacinth (Hyacinthus 'City of Bradford')
Periwinkle (Vinca major)
Windflower (Anemone 'Mistral Azzurro')
How delicious it is to handle these vibrant blues and purples after the long winter! At this time of the year I crave colour but find that I tend to err towards palettes that are analogous or tonal. It’s as though a greater contrast would be impolite, somehow - jumping ahead too quickly. Better to ease into the season with tentative exploration and reacquaint ourselves! Green, though, especially the soft limes and rich mid-greens that begin to appear March onwards - these are a good way to keep the composition balanced and refreshingly leafy. I had originally envisaged using a miniature daffodil as a complementary pairing to the violet periwinkle but often with yellow I find that this has already been provided by the stamens and the way the light fell on the pendant-like currant flowers and the mustard centres of the hellebores seemed sufficient so I set the yellow daffs aside for another day. The dead nettle is a herbaceous perennial weed that crops up around the garden and we’re rather fond of - it’s pretty, a useful ground-cover in the garden and filler in arrangements, and ecologically valuable, providing nectar for bees when there are few other sources around.
