Hellebores, Part III (page 2)

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part IV

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

I found this clump at AHS River Farms. You can tell by the spots that it has some guttatus blood. You can also see how the flowers lift their heads as they mature. This was an exceedingly nice clump - lots of flowers.

In this close-up of the flower, you can see the spots better, as well as the large nectaries.

Speaking of nectaries, note how this lovely creamy flower from Dixie Hougan's garden has deep wine red nectaries. Dixie has recently acquired several of Graham Birkin's plants by going to the UK and bringing them back with her - I believe this is one of them. To accomplish this, she had to remove all soil from the roots. The surprising thing is that most of them survived this treatment as well as being replanted late in the season.

Here's a close-up for a better view of those nectaries.