Re: hellebores
- Subject: Re: [SG] hellebores
- From: M* T*
- Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2002 00:34:42 -0500
Yup....things were so quiet I thought I'd been unsubbed and just
haven't had time to go investigate. Happy New Year one and all!
I, too, would like to know why you don't like H. foetidus, Nancy.
It's one of my favorites. I grow the clone 'Wester Flisk'; seeds all
around for me. Forms large clumps of magnificent slender cut leaves
that turn darker in winter, topped for many, many months with fresh,
soft lettuce green flowers fading to cream, with the finest red line
around their tips on the ones that most resemble the true clone,
which also has red stained stems. Many seedlings revert to the
species, but I love them, too. Actually, can't think of much about
this plant that I don't like. It tolerates the dry shade under trees
and will also grow just fine with some direct sun for part of the
day; tolerates much less than perfect soil...all it wants is good
drainage.
It is not a long lived Hellebore...maybe 4 years or so for each
plant, but it seeds so profusely that all you need to do is let some
of them mature and you have consistent replacements. Would hate to
be without it. And, yes, Cindy, it does contrast very nicely with
Hosta foliage. I love it also in combination with Euphorbia
amygdaloides 'Purpurea' (AKA 'Rubra') whose purple foliage does turn
black in winter. It blooms while the hellebore flowers are still
going and its bright yellow flower/purple leaf combo goes nicely with
the dark green leaf/cream-green flower hellebore IMO.
H. argutifolius, which is hardy only to z. 6, is similar in flower,
but the leaves are quite different; bold gray-green with prominent
teeth on the edging. It, too, is one of the acaulescent type and
really, actually prefers some sun. It's not all that obscure, but I
mention it because I like it. Also evergreen.
Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
who just potted up about 30 pots of assorted H. x hybridus seedlings
over the weekend and has a hundred or more to go:-)
mtalt@clark.net
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> From: Nancy Stedman <stedman@RCN.COM>
>
> Yes, I thought I had somehow filtered out the messages.
> In another vein: Does anyone have any favorite obscure hellebores?
I
> already have a bunch of X hybridus and one foetidus (which I don't
like)
> and one odorus (which I adore). I'm wondering about the
purpurascens and
> anything else.
> Nancy S. (zone 6B, NYC)
