Helleborus 2021

[Gabriela]

Helleborus have started to flower here.
These following flowers are all first time bloomers from seeds I got from a forumist about five years ago
There are so many very nice flowers that I don't know which I like most, but the first yellow one is one of the top favourites.

Congratulations Leena, so many beauties!
They are so easy from seeds but indeed they take space. I made the mistake to sow a large batch from some purple selections few years ago and ended with too many purples. Luckily there are always other people who don't mind a free, already flowering Helleborus

[Leena]

Some Helleborus pictures from the past week. Last winter was very good for them, and though it has been a cold April, they are doing well.

[Leena]

Some more.

[Gail]

Love that last one Leena, do you have another photo to show the dark nectaries?

[Leena]

Thanks Gail:).
It is grown from Ashwood seeds about ten years ago, and it is also one of my favourites.
Flowers could be a bit more sideways facing, but the picotee rim shows well even now.
It is raining now and tomorrow, but I will take a picture of the flower next week-end.

[Leena]

Here is the closer picture of it as promised.
The third picture is first time flowering very nice picotee double, grown from seeds labeled double white.
Fourth is also interesting colour. It grows in the middle of other plants so it was very difficult to take a picture. This is from seeds I got from Nicole six years ago.
The last picture is an older one, grown from Ashwood seeds, and one of my favourites. A nice colour and flowers are held well sideways looking.

[Leena]

Couple Helleborus grown from Northwest Garden Nursery seeds.
Onyx Odyssey, so blueish black it is difficult to photograph.
Jade Tiger, very nice.
Fourth is nice double, and older plant.
Fifth is very spotted from Ashwood seeds.

[Leena]

One more new Helleborus, this is ex Cherry Blossom, the first one to flower from those seeds.
The second picture is a nice striped plant, from my own seeds.
The third picture is one of the older plants.

[Jeffnz]

Some great hellebores, the dark bracts that accompany the flowering of some of the darker hellebores adds an extra appeal.

[Gabriela]

I particularly like the white one with the red picotee Leena; simple but so beautiful.

The 'Cherry Blossom' looks even more prettier than its 'mama' with the large nectaries.
 I gave away most seedlings from the Cherry Blossom I produced one year; better for them to grow in places with more space.

[Jeffnz]

The original NWGN Cherry Blossom is a bit of a conundrum. From nursery supplied seed, it does seem to throw predominately anemone forms with few doubles. This is surprising as I assume that the original cross made by Marietta possibly was a single x double.  The F1 generation of such a cross can give a mix of singles, anemone and a few doubles. A hellebore friend of mine here has tired to get doubles using the anemone form hand pollinated with a double, the outcome of this cross should be mainly double forms, but no still a high  proportion of anemone forms.
Leena the anemone you have is a dark pink, a keeper for sure.

[Leena]

Thank you Jeff and Gabriela.
ex 'Cherry Blossom' is indeed very pretty and a keeper. I will see next spring how others from those seeds will look like.

There are so many so nice plants flowering this year that it is so difficult to decide which ones to give a permanent places.
Most of them now grow too close to each other in "nursery beds" (= mostly between bigger plants), and need to be given more space in the future. I have moved and divided hellebores in late summer and early autumn with good success, they don't seem to notice at all they have been moved or divided.
Last week I just spaced out about 90 !!! two year old seedlings which had grown too close to each other, and are still too close when they start to flower.  I can always give duplicates to friends but there are so many so nice plants with small differences that it is very difficult to decide which I like most. I should sow less from now on, but there is always temptation to sow more...
This spring I have fallen in love with anemone forms, which I didn't have earlier, so I don't mind at all if I get anemone flowers instead of doubles, though some doubles like the picotee white/pink double which I showed last is so pretty.

[Rick R.]

My first post on this long thread so far, but I follow it religiously.  Everyone's hellebores are so enticing!  But that simple white picotee, Leena, that got me to post.  It's so incredible!  I'm sure there must be a lot of similar ones out there, even with cultivar names, but yours is so clean colored.  And those wonderfully dark "discs" at the base of the anthers. (Are those the real petals?) 
The next test is how long does the good coloring stay?  Dark colors seem to last forever, but light colors, not so much.

[Leena]

And those wonderfully dark "discs" at the base of the anthers. (Are those the real petals?) 
The next test is how long does the good coloring stay?  Dark colors seem to last forever, but light colors, not so much.

Thank you Rick! When growing from seeds you never know what they will be, but sometimes you hit a jackpot, and also I really like this Helleborus.
It started to flower around mid April, but this has been a cold spring so flowers have stayed good for a long time. Dark discs are real petals, and as the flower ages they drop but they stay dark as long as they are there (as far as I have noticed) and also the rim stays dark.
This picture was taken yesterday. There is a seedling from this picotee plant in the foreground, flowering this year for the first time, but it is not as beautiful as the mother plant, and not picotee but white with lot of spots on the inside.

[fermi de Sousa]

Most gardeners will not be impressed by this but it's the first time I've had Helleborus niger survive for more than 12 months! Albeit I've kept it in its 3" tube in a tray so is kept moist through the summer.
Helleborus niger 'Pink Flush' from Post Office Farm in Ashbourne, a most remarkable place,
cheers
fermi