The foliage in the foreground is Colchicum bulbs that I have planted among the Hellebores.
Hellebore is a wonderful perennial that requires very little care and loves to live in the shade ... where it rewards the gardener in late winter with graceful flowers that last for months.
Most of the Hellebore plants in my garden are seedlings, because they can reseed with wild abandon. While this may be a problem with other plants, which can spread and take over a garden, that's not the case for me with Hellebores.
Look at all these tiny new seedlings! The larger leaf at the top of the photo is a seedling from last year that's large enough to move, if I want to.
Hellebores promiscuously interbreed with each other, and it's exciting to see what the new seedlings look like when they are old enough to flower ... usually when they are two or three years old. I leave the tiny seedlings in place to grow and get established, and I carefully transplant some of the larger, yearling seedlings to other spots in the garden.
This is 'Pink Frost', one of the few named cultivars that I have.
I want to pollinate some of the 'Pink Frost' flowers to see if I can make my own hybrids with it.
Hellebores are wonderful pass-along plants! Many of my original ones came from friends and/or plant swaps ... seedlings of seedlings from their gardens. I continue the tradition, sharing seedlings from my garden with others who are interested.
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Weather has been unseasonably warm for us this winter, and my garden is incredibly confused. Some plants are budding and growing right on schedule (like the Hellebores), and some are very, very early. Many of my roses have broken bud are starting to sprout, weeks and weeks earlier than normal. Others are still dormant, like they're supposed to be in late February. It's going to be a weird garden year.
