Hellebores

I like that light pink one!

They are peaking locally.  Here is a selection from our BG.  The dark and pale yellow are Helleborus orientalis types, the first white is Helleborus niger, the second one is Helleborus nigercors and the last is Helleborus odorus.

I only have a purple Helleborus orientalis and a Helleborus foetidus (the later is just about open).  I photographed mine this evening.

Reed, are these flowering for you now or photos of plants from earlier in the year?  I particularly like the double green one. 

One thing I miss about my brief 4 years living in the Seattle Washington area, are how marvelously certain plants like Helleborus, Bergenia, and Rhododendron grew, and by comparison, how tatty-&-ratty some Hellebores can look in spring after beaten up by a hard winter.

Reed wrote:

McDonough,

No! these are from last winter I will take more this year in Dec. and Jan.. I have some amazing green ones and hopefully even some better ones this year. Like they say the grass is always greener on the other side I would love to be able to grow some of the plants you grow in situ. I can't stand most Rhododendron (I guess because I see them all the time) I enjoy the flowers in other peoples yards  ;D. Seattle is nice to visit but it rains more there even more than here and after living in Vegas for 6 years this is hard to get used to again.

Feel free to call me Mark (it's in my signature block :) )  One thing about the NARGS Forum is that the forum login names default to one's last name, so it is recommended to put your full name in your personal signature block, otherwise you might be addressed by last name only, if first name is unknown.

I believe all gardeners should have the experience of gardening in more than one place, it lends dimension to understanding climatic differences and the effect on plants.  Gardening in rainy Seattle was an experience to be sure, and while it had its highlights, and was a thorough learning experience, as a born New Englander it was a hard adjustment, and the one thing I missed the most was New England autumns, nothing like it, so I returned to my roots.  It must be quite an adjustment for you going from an arid environment like Vegas to the banana belt of the Pacific Northwest!  One great asset of the area, is that the rain and dampness can be escaped with a short 2 hour drive or so, to be within magnificent dryland and sagebrush areas, with a fabulously diverse flora.

Back to Hellebores, my garden is too wind-exposed in winter and sun-baked and dry in summer for most hellebores to prosper, they persist as mere pathetic shadows of themselves compared to more favorable climates, so I don't bother.  Although, I do like H. niger very much, and this one seems more amenable to our climate and makes a grand show each spring.

Reed wrote:

Thank you for the tip Mark. My name is James I will figure out all these buttons on here in time I guess.  :)

Well, a belated Welcome To The NARGS Forum James!  If you have any questions about NARGS Forum and posting, feel free to ask.  By the way, I just noticed that your signature block states you are at 500' elevation.  I too am at 500' elevation, and I do think that gardening atop a hill has its own set of climatic concerns and issues.  On the good side here, we're in apple orchard country in this part of Massachusetts, the trees planted on hills to avoid the early frosts, so we do indeed miss the earliest frosts.

McDonough wrote:

Feel free to call me Mark (it's in my signature block :) )  One thing about the NARGS Forum is that the forum login names default to one's last name, so it is recommended to put your full name in your personal signature block, otherwise you might be addressed by last name only, if first name is unknown.

Actually, you can change how your user name is listed on the forum, also.  That's what I did: I am "RickR" rather than "Rodich."

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And a very nice collection that you show here, James!

Welcome to the NARGS forum, Joseph!  It's great to have a hellebore expert here.  Love your website (hellebores.org), and that's a wonderful H. bocconei.

Sometimes an herbaceous hellebore is perfect for me with the unpredictable and cold winters here in Minnesota.  The foliage (while it is here) is always fresh...

Helleborus × purpurascens

James wrote:

Helleborus beginning to bloom here in my yard and a few blooms starting on my Primula 'Gold Lace' and my Hamamelis x intermedia 'Jelena' just starting to open up. 

We're in the deep freeze here, and after 14" of snow two weeks ago, it is mostly gone (not melted, but evaporated/dehydrated).  This past fall, my plant labeled Hamamelis x intermedia 'Jelena' flowered heavily, out of season, and with yellow not reddish-orange flowers, so its identity is in doubt, or perhaps it was an anomalous flowering for both the season and flower color.  I remember when I lived in the Seattle Washington area, having something in bloom year-round... not the case here with our much harder winters.

With our exceptionally mild winter so far, I was out looking at my hellebores....they are about 5 cm high too.  I'm not happy as we can expect snow and cold temps any day...not sure what will happen to them then.  Gee, even my snowdrops are in bud already and they normally don't bloom until April around here!

I just ordered two of M&E's hellebores, 2 of 'Golden Sunrise' with the most yellow foliage, and 1 of "Onyx Jewel." They wont arrive until spring, so no photos until the following winter. These will be my first hellebores, as I haven't had a location for them until now.

Ouch Trond!  That is one sad clump of hellebores!

Mine are under 5 feet of snow...no frost in the ground before the snow fell so they should be in suspended animation until May.

Looking forward to seeing blooming hellebores at the WWSW in two weeks in Victoria!

Oh my!!! :o :o :o Oh my!!! Such beauty warms my heart & soul on this grey & cold winters day!
Thank-you!

Saori wrote:

Wow, Michael, you have a hellebore heaven! :D

Boy I'll say!  :o :o  The "flowers" last for months in our short springs here.  Just think how much longer there in Ireland!

Temps will be dipping below 0 F tonight.  It will be a long time for my show to begin; this is what mine look like:

Rick...yours look just like mine...only there's not a speck of snow to be seen.  :-[ We are meant to get a few inches tonight & tomorrow, but we'll see. I'll believe it when I see it!

Michael, your hellebores are glorious, particularly love the yellow ones. 

Amy & Rick, besides H. niger which does well here, the fancy hybrids just don't do that well in my garden, the foliage gets so battered that they look scrappy even when in bloom, necessitating cutting all foliage off.  My couple of typical purple-flowered hybrids look like yours, flat, lifeless, and frozen.

Hoy wrote:

I never defoliate any of mine except when the leaves are dead. No problem with fungus so far :-X

Same here....I have heard that if the leaves are still green they can still photosynthesise, so I leave them on till the last minute in spring.
Matt Mattus talks about that here in his fantastic blog.... http://www.growingwithplants.com/2011/04/spring-hellebores.html