Hellebore Bore.

I have to admit that I am a hellebore bore . I am unhinged about wintertime flower bloom . I drop hour croon over snowdrops and then we get the hellebores which commence in January and then get better and good throughout February and into March . Hellebores should head my list of Top Ten February blooms which I will put up on Sunday but I mean they merit a position of their own . So many plants when they are over -hybridised are made ugly and ungainly with short root word and much bigger face than nature intended , but unexampled hellebore hybrids get ever more arresting . I am entranced by some of the New cultivar , many of them with girl ’ names . Some of them , multiply by Rodney Davey after year of painstaking work are fabulous . They have marble leaves and large , outwards -facing flowers . This one was named ‘ Anna”s Red ’ as a compliment to Anna Pavord . Behind it you could see the young part of my winter garden which I have not finished engraft yet . There will be a path mighty through it lined with box seat ball . I am not a great fan of topiary but if we do get snow it is fun to have snowballs in the wintertime garden .

Helleborus x hybridus‘Anna ’s Red ’

Other Rodney Davey hybrids includeHelleborus x hybridus‘Penny ’s Pink ’ .

Helleborus x hybridus‘Anna’s Red’

Helleborus x hybridus”Penny ’s garden pink ’

Helleborus x hybridus‘Molly ’s White ’

Helleborus x hybridus‘Anna’s Red’

Helleborus x hybridus‘Cheryl ’s Shine ’

Helleborus ‘ x hybridusCheryl ’s Shine ’

I am keep open an eye out for more lovely Rodney Davey hybrids such as ‘ Sally ’s Shell ’ , ‘ Glenda ’s Gloss ’ , ‘ Pippa ’s Purple ’ and ” Dana ’s Dulcet ’ .

Helleborus x hybridus”Penny’s Pink’

A few years ago I got very excited by some lovely ‘ ericsmithii’hybrids which had masses of flowers and marbleised leaves . I buy two or three and put them in the sunny situation they are supposed to delight . I have turn a loss all of them . Here is lovelyHelleborus x ericsmithii’‘Shooting Stars ’ in 2017 . There is no sign of it now , I hope the Rodney Davis hybrids prove to be more long persistent .

Helleborus x ericsmithii ‘ Shooting Star ’

Although they are still expensive , relatively utter , hellebore are not as devout as they used to be . I first got abstract more than 20 year ago when I call in Elizabeth Strangman ’s marvelous nursery in Kent . She was a pioneer in hellebore rearing and betray them in a range of a function of amazing colours ranging from primrose to apricot , all through shades of pink to red and from slate to black . I had never seen these terrific hellebore colours before . She was one of the first to multiply doubles . I still have this one which I bought all those yr ago .

Helleborus x hybridus‘Molly’s White’

Of of course we are used to seeing doubles now and very pretty they are too in their party dresses . Many of the new hybrid with girls ’ name are very vigorous and as they are micro -propagated they are much cheaper than they used to be .

Helleborus x hybridus ‘ Phoebe ’

Helleborus x hybridus‘Cinderella ’

Helleborus ‘ x hybridusCheryl’s Shine’

genus Helleborus x hybridus‘Double Ellen ’

Another hellebore which I bought from Elizabeth Strangman was a lovelypicoteeone . This is white delicately vein and edge with dark pinko .

Picotee Hellebore

Helleborus x ericsmithii ‘Shooting Star’

Another special one which I play from my previous garden is an old form which may have initiate there when it was an nursery . It is called ‘ Petsamo ’ and has large pure blanched flowers with pointed petals .

Helleborus x hybridus‘Petsamo ’

It does n’t have many seedling , this one has inherited the bombastic pointed flowers but has pink office which rather spoil it . I specially love sea anemone - flowered hellebore where the ovaries look like an Elizabethan ruff inside the blossom .

I have often read and heard it aver that it is not worth lay aside hellebore seedlings because they will terminate up with washed out colours but this is absolute nonsense . If you want solid blocks of one colour then I hypothesize you have to stick to one variety but how boring . And anyway it would be prohibitively expensive to have carpet of special key out diversity . Mine seed about in teemingness , both the 1 I bring with me and the single that were already here . I have vast rug of them in a arras of colours and I have it off every one .

These all used to be known asHelleborus orientalisbut as there are so many crosses they are now know asHelleborus x hybridus . Sometimes you get an unusual seedling like this one which has pocket-sized green strip flush which look as if there could have been with a crossing with the nativeHelleborus foetiduswhich bristle in the garden .

As I have one C of hellebores it always seems excessive to buy expensive newfangled unity . Nevertheless , every year I deal myself to a duo of raw ones . My pride and joy this year is a new German hybrid address ‘ Helleborus x ballardiae‘Cinnamon Snow ’ . Along with Elizabeth Strangman , Helen Ballard was one of the earliest hellebore hybridisers . It appears that one of her hellebores was a parent of this beautiful plant . It has cinnamon dark-skinned flush which domain perfect peer for the bright bark ofPrunus serrula .

Helleborus x hybridus‘ Phoebe’

Helleborus x ballardiae‘Cinnamon Snow ’

So there we have it , I could go on and on , as I said I am a hellebore bore-hole but I will stop now in grammatical case you are all shine deceased .

36 Responses toHellebore Bore.

I also have sex hellebores … the more the merrier . Currently really treasure 2 yellow/ apricot ace , planted 2 years ago .

I do n’t think that you could be boring Chloris even if you try out . A but like snowdrops I ’ve never met a false hellebore that I ’ve not like . What an dead glorious array you have . I saw some of the new girls on a recent garden centre trip and faint over ‘ Glenda ’s Gloss ’ . Kicking myself now for not making a purchase .

My God , what a selection ! Many are fabulous , but I call up my favourite is ‘ Cheryl ’s Shine ’ . Did you get the phrase Hellebore eagre from Christopher Lloyd ? I think I remember reading it in one of his books .