Hellebored? Not me ….

Flowers to brighten these chill darker days are an invaluable commodity in the garden, and few are more welcome nor so colourful as the Hellebore. There is the myriad variety of colours and flower forms of the Lenten Rose (Hellebore hybridus), bold architectural foliage and flower of the Corsican Hellebore (H. argutifolius), and Christmas rose hybrids…

Hellebores for a New Year

  A picture gallery - well there are going to be a few of them, cataloguing my visit to the gardens at RHS Wisley yesterday morning. Proof, if it were needed, that these are not the dullest, least colourful or interesting times in the garden. In fact I couldn't say when those times might actually…

Hellebore Appreciation Society – at Ashwood Nurseries Open Day

Ashwood Nurseries are world-famous for their Hellebores and the range of hybrids they create is quite remarkable for their breadth and beauty. My timing for this visit was perfect as I was travelling down from Manchester to London, and this was an excellent stopover, just to the west of Wolverhampton (for them, close to a…

Winter Sunshine, Hellebores, Iris Katharine Hodgkin, Cymbidiums and farewell to Syon….

Hellebore x ericsmithii Winter Sunshine is a bushy, clump forming hellebore, flowering for a long period in early spring. Creamy white flowers age with green tints through to a mellow pink, and all the colours seem to blend very well together, nothing muddy about the transitions either. Lots of flowers, though again, spaced enough apart…

did someone mention Hellebores?

I called into the plant centre at RHS Wisley - for me almost as interesting as some of the gardens! - and of course the hellebores caught my eye. Anna's Red and Penny's Pink, naturally. Walberton's Rosemary, which is planted to such good effect in the raised bed just as you enter the gardens from…

Anna’s Red and Penny’s Pink

Hellebore Anna's Red - my favourite, a statuesque crown of flowers on long richly coloured stems and more outward facing blooms (not so shy as many other nodding varieties!) Hellebore Penny's Pink Two recent introductions from the plant breeder Rodney Davey. I've said much about these plants and their rich colours. Anna is Anna Pavord,…

Anna’s Red, Candy Love & Angel Glow…. more Hellebores!

The deeply luminous Hellebore Anna's Red - big plants with big flowers and all in a rich ruby red. The cultivar is only a few years old but specimens bulk up nicely, with outward facing and nodding flowers held on tall stems. A real star and a favourite of mine, ever since I saw it…

Hellebore Mrs Betty Ranicar – definitely not a Tasmanian devil…

Sometimes nature does all the work - this beautiful, double white hellebore was a chance find in a Tasmanian garden, albeit the garden of the noted plantswoman who has given her name to this snowy Lenten Rose. Like all hellebores, give it deep, rich soil, in semi-shade and reliable year-round moisture and enjoy... a Tasmanian…

Prima ballerina – Helleborus x ericsmithii ‘Pirouette’

I'm getting to rather like this hellebore, Pirouette, for the beautiful congestion of flowers and buds, toothed foliage and compact form. Dusky buds, opening to white blooms fading to equally dusky pink. Typical dark green, leathery leaves on a plant reaching 15" (I'm in an Imperial Mood). While I am on the subject, Helleborus foetidus,…