Sally's Shell Hellebores - Emerging from Mulch - Mid-March 2022

We have just ONE hellebores in our garden - bought during the height of COVID during a 'drive-thru' trip to the Growing Place.  Our plan calls for a couple of areas with MULTIPLE (like 10) Hellebores (or Lenten Roses), but alas...we have just one.  And, yes... I (now) am aware that buying just ONE of any plant is a mistake, but I didn't know that then.  The problem (then AND now) is that Hellebores aren't cheap.  They're $20 to $30 a piece.  When I need 20 or so, that's a big budget number.  So, I'm going to say *that's* why I have just one (for now).  

That one that we DO have in our garden is called a Sally's Shell.  Planted in May of 2020.   In early March (9th), it was beginning to emerge from the ground.  And... It bloomed for the first time last Spring in late March.  

This year, that schedule has shifted back just a bit.  This is mid-March and it still looks like it is *just* emerging from the ground.  If you look at the photos below, you can make out the red tips nestled in with all the leaves.  (Of note, I put up a little chicken-wire ring around this for Winter in hopes the rabbits would leave it alone.  A nice byproduct of that is that some of these leaves stuck around and provided some Winter insulation.)

Adding more of these to my garden will be one of my top priorities for perennials.  My other 2022 goal - focus on adding a bunch of shrubs - which I covered in my Priority #1 post from earlier this month.