Helleborus

[Jeffnz]

Phedar Nursery was one of the first to offer wild collected seed, although I don't think that Will has been acitve in the collection of wild seed for some time now.
Carolyn not sure when you last received plants from Phedar and not sure if Will is still offering seed for sale. I did not achieve good germination with wild seed either from Will or the other UK based collector. Not sure if this was due to the seed viability of other issues. But thanks for answering, suspect that wild seed collection is a thing of the past. Also noticed that Ashwood's may also have ceased offering hellebore seed.
Best washes to all for 2025 as we adjust to the impact of climate change.

[Carolyn]

Jeff,
I think I got my plants from Will maybe 5 years ago.
Pity about the wild collected seeds. I have found the germination of wild collected seeds can be very hit and miss. I suppose the collectors just have to pick the seeds when they can, rather than checking them regularly and harvesting when ripe.
Ashwood also seem to have stopped offering hepatica seeds.

[Jeffnz]

Preparing seed packets is time consuming so this maybe part of the reason along with most countries now requiring phyto certs.

[Leena]

'Early Purple' today, doing well under the cover of dry leaves and has grown, even after 20 days of temperatures below freezing. Ground is frozen, and yet it grows. I worry a little about it though, there is still the whole March ahead.

[Jeffnz]

The flowers look nice and cosy tucked under the leaf blanket.

[Leena]

Yes, I put the leaves on top of the buds in January when cold was coming, and under snow the buds pushed up the leaves when they grew!
Most of Helleborus buds look like this.

[Véronique Macrelle]

Helleborus foetidus is flowering and spreading freely in my garden and I sometimes have to pull up a few young plants...

yesterday, between 2 very green young plants, I found this one, which seems to have purple foliage: is there such a thing as a Helleborus with dark red foliage or is it reddened because it is suffering?

[Gail]

On a trip to the Greek Rhodope with Oron Peri we saw a lovely colony of H. cyclophyllus which had a couple of plants with really good purple new foliage.

[Véronique Macrelle]

indeed!

[Jeffnz]

There are species that have red-purple flowering bracts and new foliage of the same color. The coloration disappears as the flowers and foliage age, so nothing to be concerned about.