Heads Down

I needed something different for my hellebores photos this year, so I went for a different angle: cloeups.

I always wanted this shy flower with its heads hung low. A few years back, I finally got the chance when some hellebores came up at a Master Gardener plant swap. I swooped up the container and asked the owner what type or color they were. She didn't remember. I didn't care - I got one.

But, I got two. What bloomed were two colors. I kept intending to separate them, but the lazy gardener that I am, never got around to it. They really need dividing this year, so maybe this is the year. What no one told me about this shade plant - it reseeds a lot and sires a lot of offspring. I find myself ripping out seedlings are the end of summer.

I hope to get a different color some year, and one of the later cultivars where the flowers are more upward facing. But I entertain the neighbors as they watch me photograph these lying on my back.

March 2021 Bloom Day

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day
What's blooming in the garden on the 15th of the month

It's been almost a year since I posted something. Much time was spent working on an investment house last year, and then surgery, and then beginning a gardening Instagram account. I really like Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, so let's start blogging again.
There is not much springing in spring yet, but here are a few items found.

Yes, I know. Just a crocus. But, these crocuses were in the original gardens when I moved here over 30 years ago. They pop up in different places and in different gardens each year.

Extremely fragrant, jasmine-like, early-blooming white forsythia of the olive family.



Hellebores - I thought there was one color when I picked it up at a plant swap.





Mahonia

Unknown amaryllis bulb picked up at a plant swap and planted in the ground last spring. Brought indoors in the fall, it surprised me by finally blooming now.

Find other garden bloggers' posts at May Dream Gardens

Hellebores Ain't Not Bores

After a few years of organizing plant swaps in my neighborhood where six or seven people would show up with typical plants, my master gardener group began hosting a swap in the spring with attendance of 30 or so. One of the plants I picked up last year was a hellebores.

I did not have any hellebores, but I had shade. The plant went into a nice mucky clay shady spot and did not grow for the entire year. The leaves stayed green -- that's always a good sign. I had some high hopes this spring, and am happy to report some blooms.

However, there appear to be two different plants growing together, producing different blooms. It's not unlike one of those grafted novelties like the half pink and half white dogwood in the yard a few houses down the street, or a good friends half-breed crape myrtle -- half pink and half purple. Novelties? Maybe man-made freaks is a better word. I must have two plants intertwined.

During the spring, some new foliage shoots popped up above the half baked dark green leaves of yesteryear. Blooming began two weeks ago, and I am rewarded with some hellebores surprises. These are are probably not surprises to anyone that grows them.

First, all the blooms do not pop out at the same time. It's nice to see a succession of blooms from a spring perennial, unlike a daffodil's or tulip's "Here I am and then I'm gone." Today there are two more new buds coming out.

Second, the blooms actually change color as they age. The magenta blossoms get more dull and darker and the creamy ones go green.

Third, the magenta blossoms are more upright while the cream colored ones face more downward making them difficult to appreciate (and photograph.) No worries -- the neighbors are now used to seeing my on my stomach and back with my camera. They hardly take notice any more.

I am pleased with my new additions, even though I do not know their cultivar names. I will need to separate them after blooming, and look forward to two patches of low evergreen ground cover in the shady back.