To write that hellebores are a much-desired plant for winter gardens is stating the obvious. I grow nothing but H. argutifolius, the Corsican hellebore, and have become a repetitive bore in constantly blogging my adoration for it, but I do admire all kinds wherever I travel in winter. This moody, Moorish, Othello of a hellebore was photographed near the office at Annie’s Annuals. Possibly ‘Onyx Odyssey’?
A pale yellow growing in the courtyard of our lodgings in San Francisco.
But by April it’s time to think about saying goodbye to this constant winter companion. Yesterday I cut most of my garden’s fallen bloom stalks, split the stems at the bottom about an inch or so, and filled a couple large vases full.
How’s that for a performance? Bloom all winter and still look this good in a vase.
Sepals and nectaries
Helleborus argutifolius, like H. foetidus, are the caulescent hellebores, or those with above-ground stems, so cleaning them up is a simple matter of cutting away the long (3-foot and over) bloom stalks. Fresh new leaves are already forming, trifoliate, evergreen, leathery goodness for spring and summer that I promise not to blog about for the next six months.
Hahahaha…it’s so HARD not to bring up our favorite time and again, isn’t it! I constantly have to edit my posts when I realize I’m professing my love for certain plants over and over again 🙂