Why I Oughta...

In what feels like a 'too early' emergence, our set of four Hellebores (or Lenten Roses) are all showing a little bit of new growth peeking out of the mulch.  And...it is just mid-February.  Now, I have a limited history with Hellebores as I've only had them for a few years.  Well, actually three of them were planted late last Spring .  And one of them has been in the ground since May of 2020 (Sally's Shell) .  That means that this Spring is the FIRST Spring for the three Ivory Prince Hellebores from the Morton Arboretum sale and thus, I have no date-benchmark for emergence.  But..now I suppose that I do. Now, what are the historical dates in the garden diary for Hellebores? 2021:  Sally Shell:  March 9th .  2022:  Sally's Shell: March 18th . This year?  Have a look at the Ivory Prince showing the tip along with last year's foliage: And the Sally's Shell: That means: 2023:  Both Sally's Shell and Ivory Prince:  February 1...

A quick check-in on our small grouping of Hellebores - Lenten Roses - in the backyard here in the garden diary.  These are planted in a small colony of four.  The last time I showed these was early December when all four were still green and leafy .  As I've mentioned in a few other recent posts, we had a VERY cold period of weather right around Christmas where we saw sub-zero temperatures with no snow cover for insulation.  That moved just about everything in the garden along to their final dormancy stage.   When I was out this past weekend looking at the Hellebores (one Sally's Shell, three Ivory Prince ), I noticed that there was a change that you can see in the photo below:  The Sally's Shell Hellebore has taken on mostly brown and dead foliage while the three more-recently-planted Ivory Prince Hellebores are all still winter green: These are some of my EARLIEST bloomers and typically have the first growth that requires protection from late Winter...

One of the most unique evergreens (or mostly-evergreen) perennials that we have in the garden are the Hellebores - or Lenten Roses - that are planted in our backyard on the northside in the front of the border.  What started with just one, is now four.  We added three new Ivory Prince Hellebores at the Morton Arboretum sale this past season .  Here, below are the four Hellebores - one Sally's Shell, three Ivory Prince:  The three newly planted (in 2022) Ivory Prince Hellebores are planted in the triangle shape *around* the Sally's Shell.  Size-wise, it seems that at least one of the new ones has caught up to the Sally's Shell.   What's really striking about these is that the foliage persists well past the frosts.  What typically happens that by late Winter, this year's foliage will die back and one of the first things we'll see is the new plant emerge from the soil.  Here's a photo of the original Sally's Shell emerging from the mulch in earl...

This is a one-month-later checkin post.  I planted three new Ivory Prince Hellebores in our backyard in a colony right next to the one existing Sally's Shell sport that was underneath a large Catalpa tree.  How have they done?  Pretty well.  They seem to have not struggled once planted and are (currently) still in bloom.  You can see these four (in total) Hellebores in the photo below.  The existing Sally's Shell Hellebore is in the middle with the Ivory Prince cultivars spread out around them in a triangle.  This area calls for ten of these plants , so I'm now 40% of the way there.  This might be something I look to add in 2023.  Too early for that, right?

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 g...