One is H. niger and the other is H. orientalis. It’s the niger that is blooming now. The O blooms closer to Easter. The ‘Lady’ series is H x hybridus Lady. To paraphrase an article in BBC Gardener’s World, “Exciting colour options are now available to gardeners with the introduction of a new series of hellebores bred by Gisela Schmiemann in Germany.” Hopefully, I can get the garden center in Creston, BC to bring the series in for sale. The colors are really spectacular. The blue is the deepest and the yellow is sharp and bright. On another note…….night before last we received another six inches of snow. It was bright when I got up at midnight to take care of ‘the necessaries’, and ‘sitting on the throne, gazing out into the back yard’, who should stroll out from the trees, but two lovely young does! I spent over an hour watching them pick through the perennial bed munching roses, helichrysum, residual asparagus fronds and the odd blue berry and raspberry twig. Taking into consideration we are almost in the city limits where most yards are lit, dogs abound and traffic is always there, I couldn’t get over the resiliency of these two ladies….coming to terms with foraging in the suburbs.
Helleborus niger and Helleborus orientalis
Gardening is only a refined form of gambling, after all. Sometimes the odds are fearfully against us; sometimes we win; but once the passion seizes us we are the victims of its fascination for life.
Previous post: Which hellebores, Lynda?
Next post: ‘Lady’ hellebores at Fraser’s Thimble Farms
Comments on this entry are closed.