Hellebore of the Day-March 28th

A forum to discuss and share pictures of Helleborus plants.
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Doris_J
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Hellebore of the Day-March 28th

Post by Doris_J »

Let's go with this lovely double. This is Kellie's husband John's favorite. I say we name it. How about Helleborus x hybridus 'Old Man'? Has a nice ring to it. Ask John about that one, Kellie.
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Ginger
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Post by Ginger »

I say stick with the name you titled it with in the photos
HellJohn :lol: :lol:

Thanks Doris for posting the pics! I am learning about these through your photos.

Ginger
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Garden_of_Mu
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Post by Garden_of_Mu »

This is a lovely one. Is there a hellebore society that registers names like there is for irises? Do all plants have a Society for them that does this - if not, who does? are there some plants you can just slap any name on you like (assuming you originated it from seed) and sell it as that?
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flowerchild59
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Post by flowerchild59 »

That is a lovely hellebore.
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insam
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Post by insam »

'Old Man HellJohn' sure is nice! :wink:

Mike,

I don't know of a society that names hellebores in the same way you see it for other plants like irises, clematis etc. For plants growing in our gardens we can call them whatever we like, and there have been many named cultivars throughout the decades, but most have disappeared or never made it into gardens generally speaking. If you look at the Graham Rice hellebore site you will see many named plants, most of which are phantoms.

One problem is that to sell a named hellebore plant it must be vegetatively propagated (They do not come true from seed and hybridize freely in many cases). There has never been a commercially viable way to do this with hellebores which in part explains their historically high prices. Recently however, the hybrids involving H. niger (e.g. 'Ivory Prince') have flooded the market because they respond favorably to tissue culture. Helleborus x hybridus is just now coming out of tissue culture with named cultivars that in most cases have not yet bloomed.

There is however the practice of selling seed strains under cultivar names. One of the most famous recent examples is 'Mrs. Betty Ranicar'. Over several years divisions were distributed to people on several continents. These divisions of the original plant are 'Mrs. Betty Ranicar' but seedlings are variable. I do not know if it is registered or if there are plant breeders rights associated with it. John Dudley of Elizabeth Town Hellebores in Tasmania found it and named it and distributed it. But now you can find seedlings (unbloomed!!) on the market carrying this name sometimes without an indication that they are seedlings.

So, part of it is the nature of the plants themselves and part is that there isn't really a strong enough hellebore society in the world to deal with it. Japan has a society but I'm not aware of another significant one. I have talked with several people about the possibility of starting one, but most of the serious people I know are more interested in the plants and less interested in organizations. Some are afraid that commercial interests will enter in etc. Other of the top experts are not convinced that naming hellebores is really possible. For example, naming a plant would suggest it is fundamentally different from all others. In most cases it is possible to find plants that are hard to tell apart in numerous locations. There is always the issue of what is worth naming without naming everything in sight. To give one example, I know a breeder who has been working with hybridizing for 25 years. He is just considering naming a plant that bloomed this year. It's a complicated process that hasn't worked so far with hellebores. Then you have the issue of plant breeders rights etc. A huge issue in international trade law. If a person receives a division of a plant and then puts it into tissue culture on another continent under different laws.... well you get the picture. This kind of thing is already happening.

Joseph
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