Helleborus preparing to bloom...

Such beautiful hellebore photos. Can hardly wait to see my few. Still very cold and no snow melting going on.

Donna

Hi Donna, hope yours will soon decide to appear! Will you show us some pics ?
It is rather warm here for the time of the year, around 9-10°C.
Many bulbs are coming up too soon; some of my botanical crocuses are already showing their flowers since last week but keeping them closed as there is absolutely no sun, only very miserable wet, dark days. Normally they only start middle February, many snowdrops too showing their flowerbuds. Two iris retuculata in full bloom since 5 days ago and others following and a Frittilaria specie that's really way too early, normally only blooming in April... I never experienced this before..

My darker one, the one of the bud above has opened its first flowers.
The dark is only on the outside, the inner part is much lighter in colour. In general I avoid dark colours although I like them, but they get lost in my shady garden.
Still no sun yet over here but very mild with 13-14°C.

Just bought another Helleboris foetidus 'Sopron' on the flower market today for a very reasonable price (only 5€) and its a good sized plant with promising flowerbuds. I don't want to give up on this one!

I love the colour, the shape is interesting too, the petals are narrower which gives them a species look. They are lovely when the 'light' shines through them, no sun here either but very mild, 11C and very dull but it felt like spring.

That was an extremely good price for Sopron, it looks well behaved and compact, nice leaf colour.

This is my dusky pink-rose one, not quite as bright as in the pic but I had to increase the EV to get any sort of pic against the dull skies. I have another two which have a mix of light dusky pink and green starting to open.

Oh I really love that deep rich colour Wallaby!

I wonder what EV means and if its the same as what I know as ISO.
I still didn't really figure out the technical aspects of photography, I think I'm hopeless in these thing having no talent for technical things.

It could be that mine is a specie Helleborus, as I got the plant about 10 years ago and was no so keen in keeping track of ID's in the past.
Perhaps it could be Helleborus purpurascens as I have that name engraved in my memory for one of the Hellebores I bought long ago.
But I also lost a couple in the years so I'm not sure. I'll have to do a search about that. The leaves are narrower than the Orientalis types

EV is exposure compensation value, it can be used in the advanced programmes. It tends to alter the speed at which the camera takes in the 'P' programme. I've only just learnt some of these tricks, lol, it works well for moon pics when it's reduced.

One of the whites, it has slight speckling around the throat but on here it blurrs.

This message was edited Jan 20, 2008 5:55 PM

I think I understand now what EV stands for, thanks! I'll have to try that out.

Love the white Hellebore too, is this one and the deep pink-red one
also belonging to the offspring of your 'Queen of the Night' ?

Yes they are either from QOTN or the 'red' orientale which is pale pink. I have a white with heavy red spots Ashwood Garden hybrid too but it flowers later, the plants I grew from that are all like the parent with differing amounts of spots but all have a lot of spots, they are much slower growing than these. I'm sure these were only from the two plants.

This is the pink and green one, fully open and quite flat.

Amazing what a variety you get from these two parents!
It's really adventurous to grow plants from seeds!
Each of them is unique.

Yes it is exciting, it's tempting to try more but one person can only cope with so many. I might try to keep seed from the earliest and best, which is what I was going to do last year but it turned wet and cold, some seeds set in the pots but there was only a few. I see one was eaten through the stem today so I'm not holding my breath!

This is one of the soft dusky pink ones, today I could see the heart has green around it.

that looks promising!

More Hellebores to show..

This is my veteran, the very first Hellebore I bought 17 years ago!
I had two of them, but gave one away as I wanted to have space for another specie. The last previous three years it stopped flowering, but two years ago I had dug it up, made a nice big fresh hole filled with good soil,organic fertilizer, some seaweed chalk and it has rewarded me with new vigor. I think it was suffering from the competition with the roots of a large Chery tree.
I don't know its name as it came without a tag;

another pic.;

a view in its heart;

A close neighbour to my silvermoon is this one I have for about 6 years, I might to give it the same treatment as the one above, because it's getting less vigorous, it has to compete with very greedy roots from a large fig tree..

and another pic. of my darker one that really has started off even without one single ray of sun shine! This one is living in a large pot for about 4 years;

Bonitin, lovely flower. I hope to try some in pots next year. How large is large, 10" or 12". thanks Donna

They are lovely bonitin, the pink-green one is similar to one I have just opening, which is lighter pink with a lot of green. I am quite captivated by the petal shape on the darker pink one, so wavy.

I've been meaning to post my latest ones, this is the last one I posted in bud, much different inside. I had to lighten this one to get the correct colour.

The same flower, taken when I put it back on the ground but it was getting dark (I should say sun was setting, it's usually 'dark', lol). The colour looks different in different light, sometimes it's a soft sivery lilac.

I must have had some seed from the red-spotted white, although they were young plants and I didn't need any more maybe they threw a few seeds which I picked off the ground. Or they crossed with the pink one to produce the white with a few spots, I have another opening which has more spots on it.

This is the one I have already posted, it might show the few spots better.

I took this one on the 21st of the pink and green one maturing, the colours really darken.

This is the pink 'red' oriental, one of the parents of the seedlings. I took it today, it is a deper colour than I remember seeing it before, the backs are usually a dusky bluish slate colour but that might yet develop.

Hi Rutholive,thanks, the pot is a square stone one of 30x30 cm and a depth of also 30cm, sorry I don't know how to translate that in inches...
But I think it doesn't has to be that big, specially not when the plant is still young, because then there is the danger that the root ball could rot during wet periods even more so if the pot is from plastic..

Oh I really love the one from the last bud you've posted wallaby!
What a beautiful colourshades it has, against the sky and on the floor! I suppose that was also one of your seedlings ?
I also like the white one with the few spots and the pink with green.
I know you must have already more than enough seedlings to cope with for one person but if you happen to be interested in some seeds of the wavy one, please let me know...

Every Sunday morning there's is a large flowermarket not far from where I live and although I try to withhold myself from visiting it, I rarely manage...
The result is that I have 3 more Hellebores to find a suitable place for! Arrrgh.. how difficult!

This is the first one I fell for; another picotee..

the second;

the same one but without the sunlight..

and the third is a strange pale yellow-green..

I would love to over indulge myself with your wavy petalled Hellebore seeds bonitin, lol, how could I not? It would be such a shame to let them go to waste!

How I wish I was near a flower market such as you have, I'm afraid I would have trouble restraining myself too. All three are gorgeous, the first one I like for it's striations and very dark throat.

30cm is about 12", there is just over 2.5cm to 1". A large plant would need that, but as you state a smaller one which is deep for the roots is best for a start. If the plants are bought in a 9cm pot they are best pottted into a 13cm one. The deep square ones are suitable.

A snapshot of most of my seedlings today, there is one which has a dark stem and similar deep coloured flower to Queen of the Night.

I hate to throw away seeds wallaby and would love to give them to you; I could collect them from all the ones I have and you could just chose what you want and what not or give away to someone interested, I would label them by type ?
Thanks for explaining the cm-inches issue, I must write that down not to forget anymore.
I've bought myself a thermometer which gives temperature indication of as well Celsius as Fahrenheit, because mostly people in DG use the Fahrenheit. In that way I can spare myself some difficult calculations,lol..

May I ask what means 'striation'; I can't find it in my dictionary ?

What a treasure you have with all those seedlings!
If they are all in pots it must give you a big job to keep them watered in summertime..

As I really have no more place to plant my new ones, I'm planning to increase garden place by creating another little terrace with stones, so a heavy job is awaiting me..

Bonitin, makes me very jealous of you to be able to go to a large flower market. Nothing at all in my area other than big box stores, and the two that are within driving distance do not take good care of their plants, nor do they have a good selection. So I more or less have to depend on catalogs.

wallaby what beautiful hellebores. I especially like the photo of one not in sun #4460582, my absolute favorite color. I have never tried to grow hellebore from seed but would love to try. thanks for the cm-inches, Never learned to do that.

I am studying Tony Avent's 2008 Plants Delight Catalog. Entirely too many "want to haves",,Does have a good selection of expensive hellebores.

Donna

Thanks Donna, some of mine have flowered in exactly 2 years from germination, if I get seed (and I should) I could send you some, but the one you really liked is bonitin's so I could send some of those when bonitin sends them to me, lol, if you get that. And that is of course if her's make seeds but they usually make some.

I'm easy bonitin, I would gladly try any you have to offer, they might produce some interesting crosses!

Striations are found in geological situations such as old glacier valleys, where rocks trapped in ice have scratched lines onto the surface rocks as they moved down the valley. It can be used the same way for fine raised ridges, or veins which give a similar appearance as scratches. It's even used in meteorology with clouds,

http://www.bariumblues.com/striations1.htm

The veins on your flower are what I was referring to.

Yes those plants are all in pots still, I hope to get them planted out this spring. I can see myself walking around in circles looking for spots, lol, but I have some places I think I can put them. They are only a small percentage of what I have in pots! In a way I welcomed the lack of rain at times, the rain barrels being empty so I culd use the hose pipe, much easier!

Donna, tell me from which one's you would like some seeds, I might have plenty and can divide them.., the only thing though is that the seedlings might come out differently but that's part of the fascinating process of growing them from seeds.
Yes it's a pain to see how often plants are badly treated in places like garden centres and 'big box stores'. That's also usually the case over here..But the plants sold on the flower market mostly are good quality as the salesmen are also the growers. On top of that the prices are very reasonable. I paid 8 € each for two of my new ones and 12 € for the yellow one..

Wallaby, thanks for the explanation of 'striation'! I'm afraid you will have lots more pots to water in the future lol!

Oh I think I might look forward to the excitement of seeing new Hellebores!

Three more today, this is the white with red spots which possibly came from the same coloured parent (which would be one I grew from seed), but it seems a little different. I'm not sure what, maybe the intensity or colour of the spots, could be my imagination. The first ones I grew from the spotted one had no others to cross with and all were similar to the parent, but only one flowered after three years and they are in the same place as the other two. Although they open later than the other two, there is usually a succession of flowers with which they could pollinate, so it would be unusual for it to be the same as it's parent. That all sounds confusing!

This is the other pink-lilac with more green seeping through the petals.

I'm quite excited about this one! The pink is just as it looks, with a creamy yellow-green middle, and those spots! Notice all the stamens, this has to be a cross of the spotted white with the pink/red oriental. The red-spotted white has a lot of stamens too.

Front view, I can't wait to see it properly open!

Wow, the last one is gorgeous, wallaby! What a big heart it has!
The colour combination of the pink and green tones that flow into each other are amongst my favorites. I also like the way like the spots are sparsely distributed a bit like 'taches de beauté', lol.
I can imagine how exciting this must be, as it is unique and self-grown...

So the parent of the first one was also grown from seed ? That means it is the third generation ?

I wonder if I could not do the job of the bee (haven't seen any around yet in my place) and deliberately cross one particular with another, but then if a bee still passes by with pollen from another would that undo my job ?

wallaby, a really gorgeous pink, the othere are very pretty also. Isn't it exciting to see your own crosses bloom.

bonitin, I remember when I was crossing lilies I always had a little piece of foil with me and my pencil, made a cup with the foil and pressed it closed over the pistil after pollinating. Don't that particular idea would work with the larger helleborus, but you could make a net cover for the whole bloom to prevent or other insect pollinating.

Yes bonitin, I grew some from seed from the first Hellebore I bought, a red-spotted white Ashwood Garden hybrid. The seedlings all turned out the same as that plant with just some variation on the number of dots. They were much slower to flower, only one flowered after 3 years, I planted them near Queen of the Night and the red-pink orientalis. It's the orientalis which has given the vigour and earlier blooming. There are newer hybrids I have heard which do this but the older ones have taken mostly 3-4 years to flower.

I too love the larger and more sparse dots, one side has fewer dots on it but that can change with future blooms.

As Donna says, you can cover the bloom to prevent further pollination but also if an insect did pollinate it, that probably wouldn't change what had been done already. If it did, that may be even better, lol! A seed pod has more than one seed in it so who knows. A small artist's brush is supposed to be good for pollinating, just a very light tickle over the middle part/style end should do the job.

This is the pink-red orientalis, it is deeper in colour than I have seen it before, making the white veins stand out more.