Hellebore of the Day-March 25th
Hellebore of the Day-March 25th
Here's my pick of the day. This is one from Heronswood, one of the many miscellaneous babies that Kellie is having me watch. It's a green double with burgandy edging.
Ginger, different hellebore have different leaves but most of what you find on the market have dark green thick and slightly glossy leaves that often remain wintergreen through USDA zone 6 or so. Here is 'typical' foliage of Helleborus x hybridus (Ignore the caption in the photo):
http://www.botany.wisc.edu/garden/db/pl ... igra_L.JPG
The beautiful hybrid Doris posted above is not a typical hybrid and has a strong species influence, perhaps H. torquatus. You can see it in the flower, and it has fairly divided leaf-like bracts which you don't find in all plants. Here are emerging leaves of true H. torquatus for example:
http://www.hellebores.org/images/torquatusfoliage.jpg
Most of these are compact, low-growing plants, about 18 inches high or so on average in flower. On the ones you see here the flowers stalks appear between January and March and often later the foliage emerges separately and directly from the underground rhizome. But there are also stemmed (caulescent) plants where the leaves appear on an above-ground stem, so they look a little different. On those, the flowers appear in a cluster at the top of the stem. Here is an example of the stemmed type, H. foetidus:
http://botany.cs.tamu.edu/FLORA/perdeck/ita_029.jpg
http://www.botany.wisc.edu/garden/db/pl ... igra_L.JPG
The beautiful hybrid Doris posted above is not a typical hybrid and has a strong species influence, perhaps H. torquatus. You can see it in the flower, and it has fairly divided leaf-like bracts which you don't find in all plants. Here are emerging leaves of true H. torquatus for example:
http://www.hellebores.org/images/torquatusfoliage.jpg
Most of these are compact, low-growing plants, about 18 inches high or so on average in flower. On the ones you see here the flowers stalks appear between January and March and often later the foliage emerges separately and directly from the underground rhizome. But there are also stemmed (caulescent) plants where the leaves appear on an above-ground stem, so they look a little different. On those, the flowers appear in a cluster at the top of the stem. Here is an example of the stemmed type, H. foetidus:
http://botany.cs.tamu.edu/FLORA/perdeck/ita_029.jpg
Last edited by insam on Mar 27, 2006 11:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.