Part 1

Part II

Part III

Part IV

by Marge Talt (mtalt(at)clark.net)

This nice, rather typical flower color clump was also found at AHS River Farms. Once again, notice how most of the flowers are drooping, but two have matured enough to start opening out and facing up.

Being a purple foliage lover, I am also fascinated by the deep purples and purples with slatey blue overtones that have been developed in the flower colors. Of course, in the garden, these need to be sited carefully so they don't just fade out on you. Backing them with gold, yellow or white foliage will make them sparkle.

Dixie has two purples that I covet. This one, with golden green nectaries is almost iridescent in the sunlight. The foliage is also purple-tipped.

The other one is really special....I want one! Not only is it purple, but it's double with very narrow sepals. The color is really a bit more slatey blue than my photo; so dark it absorbed all light. A truly stunning flower!

Next time, I will share some of the things I've learned about breeding hellebores from Graham Birkin, who has developed some marvelous varieties and show you some of his enchanting plants. Until then, check out "More Information" for even more photos of this versatile genera. See ya' later.

More Information

• To whet your appetite for lovely H. orientalis hybrids, check out Farmyard Nurseries pages. Those of you on the UK side of the pond can order these. We, on the US / Canadian side will have to wait a while and drool.
• Graham Leatherbarrow's private site, Graham's Paradise, has a lovely photo of H. sternii as well as H. dumetorum (plus others on this page). On his second page, he's got a lovely collection of H. x hybridus (orientalis hybrids) and a good photo of an H. niger flower.
• Tony Avent of Plant Delights has a good article on hellebores - he's always worth reading!
• Nurserywoman Anne Watson breeds hellebores and tells of a new H. x nigercors (niger x corsicus) hybrid she's developed.
• Ever dream of growing a "new" prize winning plant? Mrs Marjorie Bulmer, keen UK gardener, tells how "Bulmer's Blush" came to be.

>>To Part Four>>

All photographs in this article were taken by Marge in her garden or other gardens, except the un-named x hybridus from Rolf. That one is copyright Rolf van de Pavert and must not be used without his permission.&nbsp