Helleborus x hybridus (Lenten Rose)
Spring arrived reluctantly this week. It has been wet and even snowed yesterday, with perhaps more wintry mix this weekend. Today the sun broke through to raise spirits, but it still feels too chilly to enjoy working in the garden.
I checked on a a few things this afternoon and in my wanderings was struck by how wonderful the hellebores are this year. Their buds were showing color during the first week of February and by mid-month were blooming.
One that I have had my eye on the past month is at last in its glory. So pleased this one made. It came from Pine Knot Farm two years ago and is flowering for the first time. The three buds remained tightly closed on this hellebore long after its nearby companions had ventured to open, but today I see they are open.
Helleborus ’Black Diamond’ (Winter Jewels® Black Diamond)
Helleborus ’Black Diamond’ (Winter Jewels® Black Diamond)
Helleborus ’Black Diamond’ (Winter Jewels® Black Diamond)
Here are a few more of the hellebores from Pine Knot Farm. Some show their faces easily.
Helleborus x hybridus (Lenten Rose)
Helleborus x hybridus (Lenten Rose)
Others are shy, but can be coaxed.
Helleborus x hybridus (Lenten Rose)
Helleborus x hybridus (Lenten Rose)
Helleborus x hybridus (Lenten Rose)
Nope…this one still wants to hide. Red markings outline each petal.
Helleborus x hybridus (Lenten Rose)
Helleborus x hybridus (Lenten Rose)
The first ever hellebores in the garden were Helleborus niger, ordered through a neighbor. She was a horticulturist and placed a large order from Monrovia for those of us in our fledgling neighborhood garden club around 2002. The club lasted only about a year, the neighbor moved away after several more, but the hellebores have returned each year.
Helleborus niger (Christmas Rose)
These are pass-alongs from a Chapel Hill Garden Club friend.
Helleborus x hybridus (Lenten Rose)
Helleborus x hybridus (Lenten Rose)
Helleborus x hybridus (Lenten Rose)
Helleborus x hybridus (Lenten Rose)
Besides hellebores several other sights made me smile as I enjoyed seeing the garden in the sunlight.
Phlox subulata ‘Emerald Cushion Blue’
Anemone coronaria ‘Mr. Fokker’
Narcissus ‘Thalia’ (Thalia Daffodil)
Hope your spring is taking shape. Tomorrow I am headed out for the day to see over 50 floral designs inspired by art works in the collection at the North Carolina Museum of Art. Have a wonderful weekend!
pbmGarden 
What a post. Talk about causing a gardener’s pulse to quicken, these gorgeous blooms could send my blood pressure off the chart. They are all beautiful, but the Lenten Rose and Mr. Fokker are stunning. 🙂
It is hard not to get overly excited this time of year Judy😀
Lovely colors – I must get my hands on one of the speckled ones. ‘Black Diamond’ is very nice, too. Have a great time at the NCMA this weekend. Hopefully there will be a post to follow for all of us unable to attend? 😉
Thanks Eliza. Sorry I don’t know a name for the speckled one, nor most of my hellebores. Yes, I’ll try to share some highlights from Art in Bloom.
Just love when I see pbmGarden in my mail. Wonderful photos. Jane
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Thanks so much Jane.
Oh my, you have a lovely collection of Hellebores! I have three clumps of H. orientalis, and when they bloom I feel the same way you do. We haven’t hit spring yet in S. Wisconsin, but next week looks promising. Yay!
Thanks Beth. Hellebores keep on giving, don’t they? Glad spring is headed your way.
Thanks for sharing your hellebores – all so pretty, especially the pale green one. I am beginning to wonder if mine will ever open… ! Have a lovely weekend Susie, and hope it warms up a bit for you! 🙂
Hi Cathy. I love that pale green hellebore also. It’s a spring color.
You are going to Art in Bloom. Lucky you!
Yes, it was exciting.
What a wonderful sight, Susie! I love the pale yellow hybrid at the top of your post but the hellebores blushed with pink also caught my eye. Hellebores seem to relish the cold, which perhaps explains by lack of success with them, especially this year. Enjoy your floral art works outing!
Yes, maybe the extra cold this year encouraged the hellebores. Art In Bloom was amazing as expected. Fun time.
They still look better than we can grow them here. I do not know why hellebores are so unhappy here. They are weirdly popular because they survive under redwoods, but they never look as good as they do elsewhere.
Thanks Tony. Hellebores are such a value plant as they bloom for months here.
Lovely hellebores and Daffodil Thalia is such an elegant flower. Enjoy your visit
Thank you. The Art In Bloom show was great.
Your hellebores are gorgeous especially ‘Black Diamond’ – that’s to die for!!!
You’re ahead on N. Thalia; maybe mine will be open for my vase on Monday.
Thanks Christina, I’m really excited about ‘Black Diamond’–thought it wasn’t going to make it. Soon as my Thalia opened we had snow. They didn’t really get a chance to look their best, but they’re persisted.
Mine are flowering now. Nice thought that we have the same things flowering in our gardens.
I need to go trim off the dead and tattered leaves off my Hellebores. I really like those cream-colored ones you have.
I trimmed the hellebores some weeks ago and now many are covered in fresh foliage. It’s a bit tedious to do if you have many, put on your Zen hat.
They are so beautiful. I hope I have some left to flower this spring. Our Hellebores that budded up in early February were eaten by squirrels.
Thanks Pris. I didn’t realize squirrels would eat Hellebores. Fortunately the deer seem to leave them alone.
What a nice show! It’s exciting to see spring taking off for you, even if it is going in fits and starts this year. The hellebores are so intricate with their shading and speckling, I can’t wait to see mine finally come up.
Thanks. Yes, hope you get to enjoy yours soon. Winter is outstaying its welcome, but spring is edging in.
Black Dimond certainly is a Dimond Susie.
I agree Brian. So happy it survived.