Hello, Hellebores!

In the world of easy-care plants, Hellebores are probably my favorite.  They thrive in shade, can take dry or damp conditions, and they bloom their hearts out for months and months from late winter till late spring with a wide variety of flower colors and forms. 

The only maintenance that Hellebores require is a careful trim at this time of year, when new growth is emerging from the center of the plant, to remove last year's old foliage.  (I took these photos earlier today, while I was outside doing just that.)  I have a LOT of Hellebores, and it only took me a little over two hours to do all of them.

Most of the Hellebores in my garden are seedlings from the few named varieties that I bought at plant sales years ago.  Happy Hellebores reseed easily, and I am glad to have them spread as far as they want in the areas where they grow.  When seedlings grow where I don't want them, I dig them and move them to another spot, or I give them to friends.  I allow my shade garden to get a bit wild, so masses of seedling Hellebores (or Hostas or Italian Arum) are a good thing.

It looks like this year's Hellebore season should be a very good one.  Bloom time is just starting, with all of these flowers you see here and a LOT more still to come. 

Spring is Coming!

As I have been out and about over the past week, I have seen unmistakable signs that spring will soon be here.

I spent three afternoons this month at Hollywood Cemetery, evaluating the roses in preparation for our Rose Volunteer Day on March 10.  The roses are still sleeping, but there are other plants springing to life.

A maple tree in full bloom.

A clump of snowdrops on a family plot.

Winter Jasmine.

Lawn full of tiny purple crocuses along one of the main avenues.

More crocuses.

During a walk in downtown Fredericksburg last week, I saw this lovely patch of snowdrops.

A friend and I were looking at a cabin near Harrisonburg on Monday.  The owner of the property was obviously a gardener.

A huge naturalized patch of Winter Aconite.

More Aconite, in another part of the yard.

Snowdrops.  I really love these!

Here in my yard, it's the beginning of Hellebore season.

Yesterday and today have been unseasonably warm ... 80 degrees both days with blue sky and bright sunshine.  It's been glorious!!

In the Garden

The weather for the past few days has been amazing, and most of my time has been spent outside.  Working in the garden puts me in my happy place ... hands in the soil is the best therapy EVER.

Here are some iPhone photos that I took yesterday evening as I finished up for the day.  

The Dogwood tree in our front yard is in full bloom.  I eagerly look forward to this every year.

This is a new Japanese Maple that I planted in front of our pavilion.  It replaces one that was killed by the cold winter two years ago.  Took me this long to find something that I like enough to put into this prominent spot.  (notice that there are no weeds, and fresh mulch, in the bed with the tree.)

This Bleeding Heart is called 'Valentine'.  I got it as a dormant pot last fall, and I'm thrilled to see its first flowers.

The Hellebores have been flowering since mid-winter, and they are still looking good.  This one is a seedling that I planted in this spot in my back yard border two years ago.  

I struggled for years to establish a colony of Lily of the Valley.  A few years ago, I must have hit the magic combination of conditions to make them happy, because now these little spring beauties are multiplying with abandon. 

Finally, let's check in on the Carolina Wrens that are nesting in a flowerpot in the greenhouse.  The eggs hatched late last week.  I still can't tell if there are four or five babies in there ... I need to remember to take a flashlight to get a good look into the shadows in the nest to count them.

The rest of the week is expected to be glorious ... temperatures in the high 70s or low 80s with bright sunshine.  Definitely sunblock-mandatory weather, and perfect for being outside.  Don't worry, this girl isn't all work and no play.  As you can see from the photos, I definitely take time to stay in touch the beauty that's around me. 

A Morning Walk in the Garden, and the Making of Hellebore Hill

Early yesterday morning, I put on my red rubber garden shoes, slipped a hoodie over my pajamas, grabbed my camera, and I headed out to see what there was to see in the garden.

The sun was bright, and the shadows were long.  I love early morning in the garden.

The English Garden has recovered really well from last winter's damage.

Many of my David Austin roses in the English Garden are flowering, though few of the flowers are picture perfect.  That's just how it is in late fall ... doesn't make them any less beautiful to me.

The little baby Noisette roses in the English Garden have settled in and grown a lot since I planted them in August. 

Mystery Noisette #1 that lost its tag.

Mystery Noisette #1 that lost its tag.

Mystery Noisette #2, with a faded tag.

Mystery Noisette #2, with a faded tag.

"Mine Road Noisette"

In another part of the garden, 'Belle Vichyssoise' has opened a beautiful spray of fragrant flowers and 'Pink Perpetue' was showing off a perfect flower that looks almost like a camellia.

Today, I worked in the shade garden for most of the day ... hoping to get the area prepped and lot of new plants into the ground.  I am calling this garden Hellebore Hill, because it's catchy and it will have mostly Hellebores in it.  Before I could plant anything, I had to clear the area of hundreds of fallen black walnuts.  I made two trips with the tractor, with the bucket full of nuts, and dumped them in the tree line at the back of our property.

I don't use the tractor a lot, so I don't get to see this view very often.

Once the nuts were gone and the weeds were pulled, it was time to plant.  This 8 x 8 foot space is thickly planted, because I want it to fill in and the plants to grow together.  It contains mostly free plants, a few bargain plants, and some great specimen plants from my garden club plant exchange last weekend ... thirteen two-year-old seedling Hellebores, two fall-flowering Japanese Anemones, two Black Arums (Arum pictum), one Heuchera villosa, and one Aureomaculata Leopard Plant.  It also has ten Colchicums (which are finished for the season) and three clumps of daffodil bulbs.

Even though I was tired after all the prep work, digging all those holes and planting the plants, I continued to work ... putting down a good layer of newspaper on the bare soil and covering it with mulch.  

I'm glad I stuck with it and finished this part of the job completely, because it felt so good to step back and see what I had accomplished.

Soon, I hope to continue the progress down this bed, weeding and planting as I can, to connect this new part of the garden to the existing part that contains mostly mature Hellebores and Hostas.  If I can do this, it means that I will have fewer plants in pots, more plants in the ground, and an awesome new garden to enjoy ... instead of the weed patch that had been there.