Saturday, January 12, 2019

the hellebores are late

'Jacob' usually starts blooming right at Thanksgiving, but this year, the stems were only just starting to emerge at that time. The first flowers opened at Christmas. Since then, he has been buried in snow. Over the last few days, the snow melted and he emerged. I think he is getting smaller with time, probably because he is getting less light as the redbud trees overhead are getting larger.


His brother 'Joseph Lemper' is just starting to open. Joe is usually a little later than 'Jacob'.


Of the two 'Nell Lewis' that I have, one is just starting to emerge, the other has one flower that opened at Thanksgiving, and has now faded to green, but it has more flowers opening.



Helleborus niger prolifically self-sows in my courtyard, but the seedlings take a long time to get to blooming size. This one is the first, after 3 years, to come into bloom. I don't know if this is normal flowers for it, or if it was damaged by being buried in snow for 2 weeks. It's also wedged between the flagstones, so there isn't much room for it to grow. To top it off, it is growing in a high traffic area. Still, it was a pleasant surprise to see it after the snow melted.