Saturday 7 December 2013

Hellebores

For a long time now I have been hankering after some Hellebores. Lovely flowers; shame about the price. In our local Garden Centre they are usually offered at about £12.99 to £15.99 for a one-litre pot, and I'm not prepared to pay that much. Recently however, one of my blogging friends - Sue from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments - published a link on her page to a special offer on Hellebores being run by Hayloft Plants. They were offering 6 Hellebore plants for £10, and I thought this an offer too good to miss (Thanks, Sue). Isn't the internet wonderful sometimes??

My plants arrived this week, about 10 days after ordering. They are what is known as "plug plants" - in other words they are quite small - but they look very healthy and have well-established root systems.


I didn't know when ordering what varieties would be in the collection, but they are all named on the pack, and I have been able to look them up on Hayloft Plants' well-illustrated website. This is what I got:


As many of you will know, I'm no expert on flowering plants, so I can't say whether these are good varieties or not, but I'm well satisfied. I plan to find out more about Hellebores. What little I know about them tells me that they ought to add a bit of colour to my garden at a time when not much else will be flowering, which will be very welcome.

On Friday afternoon I paid a visit to the Garden Centre mentioned above. I studiously avoided looking at any potted plants (e.g. Hellebores) and headed straight for the compost aisle. A short while later my new Hellebores were potted up into 5" pots:


A few months ago one of my other blogging friends, Elaine from Ramblings From Rosebank kindly sent me some seeds from a lovely dark-coloured Hellebore which she has in her garden. I sowed some of them back in July but none of them germinated, so I have recently sowed a second batch. Maybe I'll be lucky this time. I'll probably end up with more Hellebores than I have room for!

18 comments:

  1. Lovely plants!
    I have read that Hellebore seeds may take a year to germinate, so don't give up on the seeds sown earlier. And it doesn't matter what color the blooms are, every single one of them is beautiful. And the blooms last for weeks! (though the color fades gently over time).
    Have a beautiful week-end!
    Lea

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  2. I had removed the link Mark so I have readded it to avoid disappointment in case someone looks for it. I've had a few collections from them as it is an economical way to buy plants as long as you don't want special varieties. The best place to look is in the magazine offers. I bought my hellebores in the same way and I seem to remember they started flowering in their second year.

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    1. Thanks, Sue. I reckon that some other readers might be tempted to buy. Actually, having looked at the Hayloft Plants website, I think I might be ordering from them again too.

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    2. Go to the magazine offers section Mark as this gives you the benefit of the offers without the need to buy magazines.I have a phlox and a dianthus collection potted up in the cold frame and a Erysimum collection to come. The collections are definitely good value

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  3. It's a lovely collection Mark. Hope you've labelled them!

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    1. Oh dear... You mean, each slot in the plastic transit container was labelled, was it?? I was wondering how I would tell which was which. Well, I'll just have to wait until they flower.

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    2. If you look on the outside of the plastic container each section will be marked with a letter A - F which correspond with the letters on your list.

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    3. I nearly missed it but I was determined to work out how I could tell which was which as i wanted to plant specific colours of phlox in different beds. Maybe they need to make this clearer - I may email them.

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    4. Eek. I always think I'll remember but of course never do. Perhaps I'll order some and we can all compare notes. Should be able to work it out between us.

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    5. Maybe I'll be able to use my photos to identify which plant came out of which slot - though I don't really need to since I don't have any specific colour scheme to adhere to.

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  4. These baby Hellebores look so lovely. I have a few with dark red flowers and some with green flowers. They also a part of the wild flora in Croatia. I noticed they seed themselves too.

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  5. They look really healthy, I could be tempted myself. It's good that you get a selection too, lots of these type of offers give you lots of one variety, but you should get a good mix with these.

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  6. Hi Mark
    Its great to see that you are growing hellebore from seed but I would like to mention they MUST have the Winter's cold before they germinate OUTSIDE or in the cold greenhouse in February/March.

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    1. Thanks Roger. That explains why the seeds I sowed in Summer didn't germinate!

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  7. I think hellebores look great in the garden but I've never purchased any as, like you say, the price can be quite high. Hope your plants do well.

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  8. Oh, this will be exciting for you. Hellebores are some of my absolute favorite flowering plants. The colors you've received should be stunning. I'll be excited for them to mature for you!

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  9. I am sure you will enjoy them!

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