new Hellebore

[chris]

hi all,
yes the flower of Johan is the best I ever seen. The H.Sarastro is the division you give to me Johan. Geebo, the first 2 have maby some torquatus blood but that's all I think, the others are good I think I wait until you show the apricot open,
Susan these veins in your flower are very nice I like them very much.
Here somethink I have heard 15 years ago of H.niger Ras Buis:It is a plant with a lot of pure white flowers, the plant has been forced in the Netherlands (Is this correct English?)YES<,M for flowering on Christmas,
probably a cross from H.niger'Preacox' x H.niger'Madame Fourcade',
Preacox is an early flowering form with large pure white rounded flowers with a green eye,
Madame Fourcade is a dwarf plant with large white flowers and a plant who was already offered in the 19th century, a very good potplant.
is it true I dont now but that I have heard from a old helleborusbreeder

[Maggi Young]

Stunning pix of what I think is more correctly H. thibetanus , "wiv an aitch" as one of the contestants of Celebrity Big Brother might have said! Are these in Maureen and Brian's garden, Mark? Ian said they were lovely and way ahead of ours, which are barely through the ground, even though we live only about three quarters of a mile away. It is a truly lovely plant.

[mark smyth]

yes days ahead of yours and from Brian and Maureen's garden

[Maggi Young]

Keep it up, Susan, soon they'll make you an Honorary Belgian with flowers like yours!

[chris]

here one of my Ester collection: H.'Eveline'

[chris]

4 years ago I crossed a double H.niger with some variegated leaves and a pale form of H.thibetanus, here are two plants one with variegated leaves where you can see some of the thibetanus pink, the other with more or less the double form of the niger with some nectaries of the thibetanus

[snowdropman]

you can see some of the thibetanus pink

Fabulous pink colour Chris - thank you for sharing

[Tim Murphy]

Like everybody else I have been enjoying all of the hellebore photos. There are some fantastic plants being shown off in this thread. I would like to add a few photos of my own. These are all hybrids flowering now.

[Jim_in_mi]

Wow!! Those are some great plants....making me wish it was Hellebore season here, but we've got a couple months to go!
That dark one is particularly attractive Tim, appears black on my computer screen.  A bed of it mixed with that green one would be nice!
Jim

[Susan Band]

Some stunning doubles you thave there Tim. I haven't had much success with seedlings from my double but I have to admit I ljust et nature take her course. It might be worth trying harder when you can see what amazing results can be gained by careful selection and breeding.

[fermi de Sousa]

Fantastic pics! No wonder Hellebores have become a fashion statement!
Chris,
That double niger is lovely and should be an interesting line of breeding!
Keep up the good work.
cheers
fermi

[ian mcenery]

Just collected my annual fix of Hellebores from Aswoods. There are always more than I intended.

The darker reds blacks are in reality much deeper than shown I will experiment with a polarizer to see if that improves the accuracy of the colour, meanwhile do any of you expert photograhers out there have any suggestions?

[Maggi Young]

We can see where this week's housekeeping money has gone, Ian
Just as well that dry toast is good for you, don't suppose you can afford the beans?

Joking apart, it is easy to forget just how much time and effort go into producing plants like these and I believe that often the prices charged by nurserymen, especially for alpine plants, are not truely representative of the time invested to get us a plant ready to buy. Not always the case, of course, but often so.

Michael J. Campbell had posted some romulea pix here, I have moved them to the Flowering Now, Early February page. http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=230.new#new 

[ian mcenery]

Maggi ssh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Pam doesn't know 

But seriously I am raising some from seed as well and also have almost a full range of all the species so who knows I might raise a few gems myself given 15 /20 years (I should live so long)

You are right about the prices for plants it's a labour of love except for some of those snpwdrops where the prices for a bulb reflect the rareness not the time and effort - or even any difference for that matter sometimes. A well known grower told me of this theory he says that the ease of cultivation guide always appears against all plants in a nurseryman's catalogue. It's the price

[mark smyth]

the more I see the more I want some!!