Hellebores 2013

[Gail]

Front in Ashwood 12 is 'Walberton's Rosemary' which is a niger/hybridus cross. (http://mygarden.rhs.org.uk/blogs/graham_rice/archive/2009/12/18/helleborus-walberton-s-rosemary-new-in-rhs-plant-centres.aspx)

Penny's Pink is also interspecific but not sure if it is argutifolius. https://www.ashwoodnurseries.com/index.php?option=com_shop_product&pid=533&page=2

The story of the sister plant Anna's Red is here. http://www.independent.co.uk/property/gardening/deep-purple-there-are-hellebores--and-then-there-are-rodney-daveys-hellebores-6940785.html

[Leena]

Gail, thank you for the pictures from Ashwood. 
I was going to write that I love the yellows and peaches, but they all are so lovely I can't decide my favourite.
I have some plants which I have grown from seeds ordered from Ashwood Nurseries, they may flower for the first time this year (but we still have about 40cm of snow), but I think I just may have to order more seeds this year.

[Yann]

Ashwood has also some stunning Helleborus, nice shots

[Tim Ingram]

It's hard to imagine how so many new variants of hellebores are arising when you look at their subdued colours in nature. Those examples from Yann and at Ashwood nursery are remarkable. It's a few years since I've been to Ashwood and their plants just seem to get more and more striking. I'm particularly taken by some of the reds, apricots, and almost oranges, and those with starry internal markings. Getting a good red hellebore was something Elizabeth Strangman was aiming for at Washfield nursery - it would be interesting to know what she would think of some of these! The test as good garden plants may take a little longer, but they are very exciting to see.

[MargaretB]

Three of my home bred hellebores, flowering for the first time.

[Brian Ellis]

Well done Margaret, I like the third one in particular, but you must be pleased with them all.

[Maggi Young]

Seeing the superb home grown seedling plants shown in this, and other threads, by forumists, I am moved to send warm  congratulations on making such beautiful "babies" 

[Tim Ingram]

This is a little charmer after the earlier primadonnas - Helleborus torquatus Tinkerbell Group (personally I'd leave off the 'Group', it somehow detracts from the name!). All the torquatus are delightful, fussy, slow and best observed from a mouse-eye view, which means that hardly any gardeners ever see them!

[Jeffnz]

Have not come across Tinkerbell in this part of the world but from the description given by Tim it has all of the torquatus features that we love to hate. I especially like the heavily veined pattern to the interior, this type of patterning has been found in natural populations of the species. The wet winters we have here makes cultivation of the species a real challenge.
I note the reference to 'group' is this because the plant is from a seed strain or are the others in the series? It would be interesting to find out if the double was bred from pure torquatus parentage or if there are hybridus double genes lurking in the background.

[Tim Ingram]

Jeff it looks to me very like true torquatus. The only others I know of are the famous 'Dido' and 'Aeneas' that Elizabeth Strangman discovered in Montenegro, but these have apple-green interiors. I have deliberately planted this a long way from other hellebores in the hope I can keep true breeding seedlings.

[Jeffnz]

Ernie and Marietta who breed hellebores at North West Garden Nursery in the US have developed a double strain called Jade Tiger which used torquatus crossed with double hybridus. The Jade Tiger strain combines the quicker growth habit and flower size of hybridus with most of the colour features of the original species parents.
There are a few double torquatus plants in circulation within Europe and these originated from wild collected plants, Will McLewin is the only source I am aware of, some of these are recent introductions and in form are superior to the orignal doubles collected by Elizabeth Strangman.
Open pollinated flowers will soon tell you if there are rogue stray genes in the background and despite the best will in the world you can never guarantee that isolation will prevent bee pollination with pollen from other hellebores. If you want to you could self the flowers to avoid contamination, selfing is a practice I try to avoid but in this case may be preferable to OPing.

[Tim Ingram]

Thanks Jeff - I may be a little late this year but I could cross between this double and several single clones of torquatus I have; anything arising would be interesting. I haven't seen Will McLewin's collections - perhaps these were a source of my plant down the line. I am quite interested in developing smaller flowered selections of hellebores (just to see what might happen), but they would never likely to be be very commercial.

[Jeffnz]

Tim
You might like to google Hertfordshire Hellebores, Lorna has developed a strain of smaller flower sized hellebores that bear many flowers per flowering stem. I think that she used viridis as one of the original parents for the strain and crossed with hybridus or other species.
Not sure how well known she is in UK hellebore circles but she has developed a very good selection of doubles along with others.
Jeff

[Tim Ingram]

Jeff - many thanks for the suggestion to look up Hertfordshire Hellebores - some very nice things, so much so that we visited today. Although she had sold out of quite a few selections we came away with a variety of plants, very well grown. I will post some pictures tomorrow. It was also an opportunity to go to one of the best specialist herbaceous nurseries I know, Beeches near Saffron Waldon, so a good plant buying trip!

[David Nicholson]

Earlier this week all my Hellebores were ruined by the cold and wind, they were flattened. As the weather got a little milder I'd expected them to recover a bit but they haven't. I take it I can write them off for this year (and they really were looking lovely) but is there any reason why they shouldn't come back strongly next time?