Helleborus foetidus is sometimes called the Stinking Hellebore due to the smell of its leaves when crushed. It's the first plant to flower in the back garden this year and is characteristic of the woodland planting in the end half of the garden (which gets increasingly shady as the canopy of trees come into leaf).
 In the wild Helleborus foetidus is a plant that's happy in open deciduous woods and scrub where it takes advantage of the dappled light that filters through the bare branches in late winter/early spring.
 On a cold but sunny day in mid-January I saw a big fat bumblebee buzzing around its drooping flowers- a herald of longer, warmer days to come !