second wave of hellebores

 The fading of the crystalline flowers of 'Champion' and the H. niger clan signals the beginning of the H. x hybridus clan. I don't have many, since I mostly value the mid-winter blooms of H. niger, but the second wave happens at the same time as the earliest crocuses, which is pretty cool at this time of the year.

 Here is 'Connie' just starting to show her stuff.

 The nodding flowers of hellebores encourages me to go out in to the garden. Although you can appreciate the charm from a distance (i.e. from the warmth of the house), to fully appreciate their beauty, you have to go into the garden, and lift the flowers.

'Joseph Lemper' is still going strong, his flowers are bigger and taller than those of 'Jacob'.

jacob, joseph and nell

Jacob, my earliest hellebore, is fading. That spell of warm weather really had them fading to pink and green. It feels like they blew fast, but then again, they started coming out at Thanksgiving. I shouldn't complain about 2 months of bloom.

This is my "new Jacob" whose flowers had trouble clearing the leaves. I assume this was due to being in brighter conditions, so that the leaves were upright.

And here is my "old Jacob." The first plant I bought, in shadier conditions, the leaves stretch out and the blooms form a nosegay in the center.

'Champion' is a hybrid that I purchased mislabeled as 'Jacob' (I never trust big box stores, so this was no surprise). It opens with a green tone to the flowers that becomes more widespread as the flowers age and fade. I'm not that fond of the color, but the flowers have a nice crisp form and very durable wax-like texture.

Another H. niger cultivar, 'Nell Lewis', from Pine Knot. This one has been slow to grow for me. Only this year (after 3 years) has it had a decent flower. Maybe I need to fertilize. Flowers are larger than 'Jacob'. As you can see, bees have no trouble finding hellebore flowers.

'Joseph Lemper' is the brother of 'Jacob', but rather different in character. Flowers are larger, and less numerous. He also seems to be less vigorous, at least for me.

Although hellebores come in many different styles and colors, I'm most fond of the crystal white and very early H. niger cultivars. My H. orientalis hybrids will bloom in another month and even of those, I only grow the white ones. Hey, it's what I like. Maybe one day I'll branch out into other colors. There are some delicious ones at Pine Knot.

'jacob' time

 The only thing that makes winter worthwhile: Helleborus niger, and in particular, 'Jacob'. The blooms make their first appearance at Thanksgiving, and if the weather stays cold, they stay in good shape for several MONTHS. It's the only reason I hope for cold weather. If it warms up, the flowers fade to dusty rose and green. In the shade, the leaves flop more and show off the flowers (above). More sun and the leaves hide the flowers (below). Delightful either way.

'Freedom' florist rose

'Freedom' has been a very strange rose. This was a rose that was given to me last Valentine's Day as a bouquet, and I rooted one of the stems.  It sat for months in the summer heat without growing, then threw out a shoot with cooler fall weather. A bud formed which lasted several weeks as a bud, then when the weather turned cold, I brought the potted plant into the garage. The flower opened and it has lasted about 4 WEEKS in the open stage (so far).

It is not the most beautiful rose as a garden plant so far, (but still a tiny plant) and only slightly fragrant.
As a bud, it held at this stage for about 3 weeks, and felt like cardboard.

In the lower light of the garage window, the flower opened up and the inner petals had the more expected color.

Here it is when given to me as a bouquet, which didn't last a particularly long time.

jacob

One of my plants started blooming last week. Perfect timing for when I start getting the winter blues.

My other one, in more shade, is just coming out. 

november blooms

 It's so nice to have some flowers open, here on the 5th day of November.

 

'Autumn Jester' miniature bearded iris opened a flower a few days ago. I wasn't sure I liked it in the catalog photo, but I sure do like it in real life. It's about 4 inches tall and it's one of the few re-blooming miniature bearded irises. 

 

 One of the last flowers on 'Bishop's Castle'. Not great, but at least there is a flower.

This is the very last blossom on 'Munstead Wood'. I don't expect more since there are no more buds forming. It's the best of the last remaining roses, particularly after yesterday's storm.

two flowers

What to do when stuck at home with a cold? Why take photos of course. I can always pause to wipe a runny nose, cough, whine. Plants can't catch it from me. But not a lot of energy for the up/down to arrange the plants, to set up the lights and camera, and to do the post-capture processing. Oh well.

 I'm a few days late to catch this Laelia Newberry Sprite at its peak. This is the second flower it has produced since I bought this plant in September 2011. The last bloom was November of last year, when I was away on vacation. I caught the last couple of days of color as it faded.

Munstead Wood still has a few flowers opening on the bush in today's unseasonably warm temperatures. My thermometer says it is 78 degrees in the shade right now. A couple of the other roses are blooming also, but with less than perfect flowers and now I'm out of energy. Whew! Red roses are so hard to photograph. To my eye, this flower in natural light is a purple red, but under the flash, it is a carmine red.


Let's try this on the patio with natural sunlight.

Aah, that's much better. Still just a bit off. Let's try a little Photoshop work. Okay, now that's pretty close.