The Garden Community for Garden Lovers

March 1st Hellebores in the garden

bjs

By bjs

48 comments


Had a wonder around the garden this afternoon snowdrops almost gone! now its the turn of the Hellebore.
This is what i saw.the light was low but seemed to bring out the colour in them


Ballard’s Red!


seedlings these are self sown of which there are many


seedling


seedling


cream spot


seedling


semi double


dark semi double


original white in the garden


White


seedlings just germinating


2 year old self sown seedlings


seedling that when i lifted its head warranted a photo


another seedling


previous seedling close up
I think nature has been very kind to me with these and the bonus the squirrels dont eat them mores the pity!!!

More blog posts by bjs

Previous post: from little Acorns

Next post: Hellebore up date



Comments

 

Hellebores are becoming one of my favs....a must have when I can plant in our garden. They do take a few years to establish I've read so I will have to be patient!

You've got some really beautiful plants there....thanks for posting the photos.

1 Mar, 2011

 

brian i have loads of seedling ................ wot shud i do , leave them or prick them into pots , have got a few more this week , i love that yellow one stunning .......... not seen that be fore

1 Mar, 2011

 

What a wonderful selection you have Brian. I love them all. The yellow one is great, and the doubles. Do they all self seed, or just certain ones.

1 Mar, 2011

bjs
Bjs
 

Cristina
If they are anything like mine this year you would be for ever, i tend to wait for the first true leaves in the second year (see pic) it would be a bit of a gamble with just the cotyledons showing,but if you are impetus and you have lots give it a try.

1 Mar, 2011

bjs
Bjs
 

Cinders the semi doubles are self seeding but i did hand pollinate last year,not sure if i needed to.

1 Mar, 2011

 

Thanks Brian

1 Mar, 2011

 

these are wonderful plants, lucky you.

1 Mar, 2011

 

Such beauties all of them what a wonderful variety you have there the seedlings well reminds me of hundreds and thousands on a cake lol

1 Mar, 2011

 

Superb blog & pics Brian, wonderful, really my faves. Love the yellow & double cream ones.

1 Mar, 2011

 

Yes me too. Lovely selection. And thanks for the picture of the seedlings. Ken went weeding yesterday.I forgot to mention the patch by the hellebores may be seedlings..he did leave a few thank goodness!!

2 Mar, 2011

 

lovely hellebores brian, love the dark one so striking, think they look great once in bigger clumps, lots of colour, even better when they self seed to :o)

2 Mar, 2011

 

thanks brian .......... i will leave them as i wud like them to spread where they are then ..............

2 Mar, 2011

bjs
Bjs
 

Cristina
I think nature has a way of thinning them in the first year
because there never seems to be the large numbers when they come up second year plenty but not overcrowded in the way my picture shows them now.

2 Mar, 2011

 

Wow, what a beautiful selection of Hellebores. Like others, I like the yellow one particularly. I like most of the others too! Fab glog, gone to my favourites too!

2 Mar, 2011

 

Brian what sort of compost would you recommend for planting up the self seeded plants in. I tend to use John Innes No 3 for most of my plant pots but would this be ok for hellebores. I also have some seedlings and I would like to have a go at potting them up and trying to grow them on for the garden. Many thanks in anticipation.

2 Mar, 2011

 

PS Love the photographs - love the hellebores

2 Mar, 2011

bjs
Bjs
 

Olive
They are not that fussy with me in the open garden the seedlings thrive on heavy clay ,however in pots i would use 50/50 John Innes & and a peat based compost mixed.bearing in mind the fertiliser in compost only lasts a few months i would add a small amount more,one of the slow release or even a bit of bone meal.The name of the game is to keep them growing as we know we have a several year wait at best.
Brian

2 Mar, 2011

 

Is that 7 years until they flower?

2 Mar, 2011

bjs
Bjs
 

lulu
several was 3 when i was at school(long time ago) they may have changed it since.lol
seriously they may take 4 from germination

2 Mar, 2011

 

Thanks for that, I have a ffriend who's garden is full of last years seedlings, she may want to know.

2 Mar, 2011

 

you have some real beauties there Bjs, strangely it is the dark coloured hellebores that seem to have survived the bad weather best - im sure i had more white ones but perhaps they are later?

2 Mar, 2011

bjs
Bjs
 

Foot note.
We on GOY a week or so ago were talking about the hellebore flower and that the part which we assumed were the petals are in fact sepals ,the petals being insignificant in the centre of the flower, it is only today I have realised that the close up picture Above shows the green petals very well,These drop off after a short while leaving just the sepals

2 Mar, 2011

 

so i will have to wait 3 4 years 4 them to flower ............... !!!

2 Mar, 2011

bjs
Bjs
 

Cristina
Patience is a Virtue,you have to think positive ( thats what me doctor says) lol
You can always buy 3 year old plants.!!!! its only money.

2 Mar, 2011

 

looking forward to visiting the nursery bjs, after seeing your blog. Lovely photos I can see why you like hellebores. I bet I come away with one!

2 Mar, 2011

bjs
Bjs
 

Teds
Or two or three.!!!!

3 Mar, 2011

 

Should always buy in threes Teds, lol.

3 Mar, 2011

 

have bought 3 this week allready all lol brian .............. have to sneak em in now as oh tidyed my shed out and put all my pots on shelves , he cud not beleave how many there were lol . think i start a new biss. sell them back to g.c .hehe

3 Mar, 2011

 

I seem to buy in threes or fours and sometimes Lots and lots just jump into my trolley!!

3 Mar, 2011

 

Lulu I wonder what name they give to that addiction because I suffer from that also. lol. We could all get together and sit in a circle in the garden and talk about what started us off and how we cope with our addiction. lol.

3 Mar, 2011

 

Bjs have just planted some of my bigger seedlings up in John Innes No. 3 will see what happens to them. Fingers crossed, thanks for the advice, thought I would experiment and see what happened.

3 Mar, 2011

 

Think you should be called 'goypots', Cristina & Olive, do you have a school nearby, they might be able to use old pots!!? We give ours to our church summer fete garden stall!

3 Mar, 2011

 

When I get too many Grandmage, the OH takes them and puts them in the auction rooms and they go for a few pence each. lol. waste not want not eh!! Someone is always looking for something in there.

3 Mar, 2011

 

Oh Oliveoil, trying to come up with a good reposte! The love of all things that grow and flower is an amazing thing. I once worked as a carer for a dear old boy in London. He said to me one year that would I buy all white flowers for his garden as they were easier for him to see. I bought all white except for one bright blue plant (can't remember which one now) and having lunch in the garden one day he said "Little Witch, there is a blue plant in my garden!" I said to him "Tom, I thought you couldn't see blue"! Lol
Bless him. But it was fab to go to the garden centre each year with over £200 to spend on his garden!

3 Mar, 2011

 

Don't you just love the old dears, they make me laugh. Nice to be able to spend that amount of money on the garden though.

3 Mar, 2011

 

I am sure I will regret it when I can't afford anything in the not too distant future!!!!

3 Mar, 2011

 

No Lulu you will always manage to squeeze that extra bit for the garden I know I do, I would rather not buy clothes than plants. Some would say yep we have noticed lol.

4 Mar, 2011

 

Pity I didn't have a bet on a horse that won yesterday!! Could have afforded lots of plants AND the new jumper I bought yesterday!!

4 Mar, 2011

 

Lulu...you've given me a chuckle with your horse bet and new jumper purchase :) I keep saying I need to win the lottery...trouble is I don't even buy a ticket! How crazy is that!! Hubby buys them once a week online but maybe if I did as well it would improve the odds? Hmm

Happy gardening & budgeting :) and good luck at the races (winks...lol)

4 Mar, 2011

 

The trouble with self-seeded hellebores is being firm enough to only keep good ones after they flower for the first time, lol. I particularly love the pure white ones.

4 Mar, 2011

bjs
Bjs
 

Wagger
Yes you look at pretty speckled faces love it, then like most things you start getting picky.I doubt if i will ever run out of room for them.

4 Mar, 2011

 

A lovely selection and haven't you been lucky with your seedling semi-doubles too. Your fortunate not to run out of room for them, I'm thinking I may have to take a few over to the allotment soon. There's a name for snowdrop maniacs, someone ought to come up with one for hellebores as they are just as addictive.

5 Mar, 2011

 

Beautiful!

5 Mar, 2011

 

Beautiful variety of hellebores. I really hope mine self seed eventually because they are not cheap!

5 Mar, 2011

bjs
Bjs
 

Lauram
If yours are flowering this year hand pollinate them with a paint brush or even your finger, they need a little help flowering as they do very early,certainly in the UK there are very few bees or other insects to help.Some set on there own others not ,the yellow one on this page never set any seed till i hand pollinated it
And sow as soon as ripe or let it fall to the ground as you can see I do.

5 Mar, 2011

 

What a fantastic selection of hellebores, I really must look out to see if we have any seedlings.

25 Mar, 2011

 

Bjs I planted a couple of my self sets up and they look to be doing well, I am looking forward to them producing flowers to see which colour they throw out.

26 Mar, 2011

Add a comment

Recent posts by bjs

Members who like this blog

  • Gardening with friends since
    22 Aug, 2010

  • Gardening with friends since
    3 Apr, 2010

  • Gardening with friends since
    27 Dec, 2009

  • Gardening with friends since
    13 May, 2010

  • Gardening with friends since
    5 May, 2010

  • Gardening with friends since
    17 Aug, 2010

  • Gardening with friends since
    1 Apr, 2009

  • Gardening with friends since
    1 Jul, 2010

  • Gardening with friends since
    10 Sep, 2010

  • Gardening with friends since
    9 Aug, 2009

  • Gardening with friends since
    8 Apr, 2010

  • Gardening with friends since
    9 Jul, 2010

  • Gardening with friends since
    16 Feb, 2008

  • Gardening with friends since
    10 Nov, 2008

  • Gardening with friends since
    22 Dec, 2009

  • Gardening with friends since
    8 Apr, 2010

  • Gardening with friends since
    27 Sep, 2008

  • Gardening with friends since
    30 Dec, 2011