I\’m in the throes of the Winter Clear-up and am concentrating on the front woodland areas at the moment – but of course every time I go to the compost heap I am silently rebuked by all the borders begging for tidying in the back garden too!!! Yesterday and today I have been cutting the old leaves off the Helebores as they are full of buds already.
I am waiting for my friend with the chainsaw to come and coppice some of my Hazel Trees as they are getting so dense that you can\’t see the underplanting of helebores very well! I was very happy to find a Heleborus Niger in full flower a few days ago – it really is a sign of hope for me!
Gortnalee Garden Blog 
Your hellebores are well advanced for December, Hazel. Cutting their old leaves off is usually my New Year's Day job, though I have taken the grottier ones away already and, yes, the buds are coming.
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I seem to have escaped the waterlogging for the moment but if my snowdrops are appearing they haven't managed to break through the leaves!!!!
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The weather has been against us, Hazel. The garden is saturated, actually under water in some places so gardening has been impossible for a while. On the positive side, snowdrops are well into growth with several cultivars into flower so we are moving along towards spring despite the bad weather.
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