Hello Pretty

I have grown hellebores in my gardens for many years. They are one of those plants that separate the gardener from the landscaper in my opinion. They are sweet little perennials that grow close to the ground in filtered shade and bloom in the winter for a number of weeks. The average visitor to the garden would probably walk right past them and never notice their nodding flowers that seem to be too shy to look up. I could never imagine a professional landscaper putting them in someone's yard and telling them that they won't look like much most of the year, but sometime in the winter months, look under the leaves for some blooms. Only a true gardener would understand that thrill of those sweet little flowers. I had heard that they readily reseed and will spread throughout a shady area, but it has never happened for me, maybe because I do get the new hybrids like these two here, since the species variety are typically a muddy green color and not too exciting (if you can call these exciting at all). These pretties are blooming this week in my SJC gardens which is appropriate because lent started this week and the are sometimes called Lenten Roses, although they are no relation to roses. Another reason they are favorites of mine; they last for weeks and weeks when cut. A small bouquet of them in a pretty little vase can brighten my bedside table long enough to get me through to spring, when all the landscapers' darlings start to put on their show!