The garden is springing into life - snowdrops, aconites and cyclamen coum are bursting into flower, and with luck will seed themselves about for future years.

Scent is everywhere in the garden, from the graceful arching branches of the pink flowered Viburnum x bodnantense "Dawn", to smaller, more formal little shrubs such as the creamy-flowered Sarcococca, more commonly known as Christmas Box. One of these outside your front door at this time of year will provide a regular treat every time anybody walks past.

Daphnes are very attractive, flowering on the bare, leafless twigs, later followed by attractive berries. No garden should be without the evergreen variegated Daphne odora Aureomarginata, attractive all year and carrying scented flowers that are a gorgeous shade of pink, all through the coldest months of the year.

Bulbs are popping up everywhere and this is probably the final opportunity to clear last year's debris, without damaging emerging bulbs.

The mainstays of the herbaceous border at this time of year have to be the totally hardy hellebore family, particularly Helleborus orientalis, whose flowers vary in colour from pure white and maroon-spotted white, through all shades of pink to deep purple, almost black. Hellebores are generally easy to look after, thriving in woodland areas and enjoying a moist, fertile soil in partial or dappled shade.

Most of us can offer this microclimate somewhere in our gardens - even the smallest garden has room for one or two hellebores, some of which are evergreen and attractive for 12 months of the year. Hellebores are most effective if grown in groups, or large numbers.

Other garden-worthy hellebores include Helleborus argutifolius (Corsican hellebore), the pale green flowers of which complement almost any other plant you care to place with it, and Helleborus foetidus (unfairly called stinking hellebore) which carries green, bell-shaped flowers. There is a variety of Helleborus foetidus called Wester Flisk, which has attractive deep red stems and a red margin to the green flowers.

Because many hellebores are grown from seed, it is always best to buy them in flower, that way you can choose the shade of flower. Seedling hellebores do not necessarily come true; in fact, several seedlings from the same plant can all eventually produce different coloured flowers.

Helleborus foetidus Wester Flisk and Helleborus argutifolius should seed themselves profusely in your garden. But without doubt one of the most attractive helleborus, Helleborus x sternii (Boughton Beauty) should be purchased at this time of year, when the red colouring in the leaves and stems is at its most exuberant. Seedlings from this plant are unlikely to come true, they are probably not going to carry such intense leaf and stem colour, although they will certainly be worth growing.

To get the optimum display from your hellebores, cut all the old leaves off Helleborus orientalis, leaving just the flowers and flower buds, they will soon sprout fresh new green leaves, which will remain on the plant to give summer interest.

Good companion plants for hellebores are snowdrops, primroses and lilies, bulbs of which can be planted now.

Updated: 10:38 Wednesday, February 26, 2003