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Building the Perfect Hybrid Hellebore – Part 2

Helleborus x hybridus at Hayefield

Text and photos ©Nancy J. Ondra

Continuing from Part 1

Helleborus x hybridus greenish white

Flower Colors

I think the only color in hybrid hellebores that’s rather boring is green. I can find charm in other sorts of green flowers, and a bright Granny-Smith-apple green isn’t bad, I guess. But propagating hybrid hellebores with green sepals (the parts that look like petals) mostly seems pointless to me, since you can already find splendid rich greens in straight H. odorus, H. dumetorum, H. foetidus, and other hellebore species. I particularly dislike many of the greens that are optimistically described as yellow in catalog copy. I’m sorry: They’re not yellow, they’re not even chartreuse – they’re green.

Continue reading Building the Perfect Hybrid Hellebore – Part 2

Posted on 9 Comments

Building the Perfect Hybrid Hellebore – Part 1

Helleborus x hybridus at Hayefield

Text and photos ©Nancy J. Ondra

Back in my March Bloom Day post, I made a comment about loving all of my hybrid hellebores (Helleborus x hybridus). At the time, I meant it. But now that they’ve been in bloom for a few weeks, I find myself qualifying that statement frequently. Some clumps I visit daily or even more often, even if I have to go out of my way a bit. Others I walk past multiple times a day and seldom notice. And still others make me wish I had a shovel in hand so I could end their (and my) misery.

Continue reading Building the Perfect Hybrid Hellebore – Part 1