Tangled Branches: Cultivated
happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia
Thursday, March 12, 2009
This Year's Hellebores
I'm still working on learning to love hellebores. I think part of my problem is that I've always mail-ordered them from mixed color lots and ended up with mostly mauve-y pinks that I just don't like very much. Even if I did like that color, it doesn't show up well in the woodland garden against the leaf litter mulch. Five of these flowers are Pine Knot hybrids from a mixed lot that Wayside Gardens offered a few years ago. The other two are from a single plant of a Royal Heritage hybrid, I think also from Wayside Gardens.
Of my six plants, the only ones I like much are both Pine Knot hybrids.
Labels: hellebores
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Float Your Hellebores
You know those garden catalogs showing masses of disembodied hellebore flowers? Did you ever think about how they get those photos? I never did until I noticed some of those flowers were sinking.
Did you ever notice how many photos of hellebore flowers include the hand that's holding them upright for the camera? That's how most of my hellebore photos used to be, but no more.
I ran out and snipped all the almost-open flowers because the weather service told us there was a big winter storm coming. When will I stop believing these people? Well, I have to thank them for making me act, because this is my new favorite way to look at hellebores. Especially those dark colors that I admire so much which don't show up well in the garden.
Most of the flowers in that photo are from an order of mixed hellebore hybrids from Pine Knot Farms, via Wayside Gardens. They took a year or two to bloom and now I'm a hellebore convert. I used to think they were boring, but the hybridizers have made wonderful improvements in the last 10 years or so. Pine Knot Farms Hellebore Festival is today and next weekend, and might be worth a road trip. I'm probably not going to make it this year, but I'll pencil it in for next year.
Labels: hellebores
