Those Amazing Hellebores

The adjective "amazing" may ring a bit bold for these quiet plants of late winter, and early spring, until you have the pleasure of seeing them massed in a border or woodland, usually bereft of flowers. You might find yourself mesmerized by their sublinely, subtle colored blooms. . . . Some in shades of gold, yellow , and lime, others in shades of pink and plum, pure and tinted whites, and even deep, smoky reds. Now with their rediscovery by gardeners and the attention of hybridizers these aristocrates of winter are revealing even more surprises.

My first experience with Hellebores occured as a blur of white flowers, seen from a moving car. I thought it odd to see a plant blooming in the middle of winter. Years later I discovered this was the 'Christmas Rose,' Helleborus niger, the earliest hellebore to bloom.

The first, of these unusual plants, to grow in my garden was Helleborus foetidus. Several of these plants came from a friend who had hundreds of them blooming in her terraced garden. I was struck by their lime green flowers and stems rising from dark green divided leaflets. They looked exceptionally elegant in the company of small flowering Spring bulbs. H. foetidus is short lived but, seeds itself generously. I have since added H. foetidus 'Wester Flisk,' a red stemmed variety, originally found growing in Scotland, with somewhat silvery blue tinged foliage.

Once you begin to grow Hellebores they become habit forming. One of the more satisfying plants in my garden is the 'Corsican' Hellebores, more correctly named, Helleborus argutifolius. This plant, obtained as a young seedling, grew quickly into a magnificent speciman three feet tall by three feet wide. My very mature speciman grows in a sunny, well drained, basalt-walled bed. In fact, Helleboras argutifolias, adapts well to a variety of conditions and is found growing wild on the shoreline, roadsides and wood of its native home of Corsica. H.argutifolius has large leathery green, spiney-toothed leaves and large lime green flowers. Grown in the sun, as mine is, the leaves are pale green. A new cultivar, 'Janet Starnes,' has white speckled, green leaves that look as though they were splattered by a paint brush This very striking plant was named by Philip Curtis Farms, for plantswoman Janet Starnes, of Molalia, Oregon.

With my taste for Hellebores whetted, I was happy to save three large clumps of Helleborus orientalis from certain death. They stood in the way of a new driveway cutting through a neighbors old garden. These Hellebores introduced me to flower colors other than lime, such as reddish-purple with with dark veins, white with deep violet veins and pale pink flowers with hints of green and no veining.