The last post showed how hellebore blooms look floating in a shallow bowl; this one is about how they look in the garden. Although you can’t see the showy blooms on most of them (some of the newer varieties have blooms that are more tipped up), they’re still lovely in the garden, blooming heavily with the daffodils and forsythia.
In these photos below, the first two show hellebores that are big enough to divide, although the first one, I divided a few years ago, so I’m going to leave it alone for now. I’ll probably divide the second one.
The third picture shows three hellebores together — these are planted under a redbud tree which is just starting to bud out now — since hellebores start so early, they get plenty of sun before the trees leaf out, and then the tree shade keeps them cool and healthy through the summer’s heat.
You can see in that photo that the far left one is a bit more upturned than the other two; it’s also big enough to divide, I think. I’m pretty sure that’s a Trader Joe’s hellebore from last year; they come pretty far along, more so than the ones I find at nurseries.
The final two show some hellebores from my backyard, where I haven’t done any clean-up yet (leaving leaves for the polinators). On the fourth photo, you can see the raggedy old leaves at the base, which I’ll probably trim off this week when I get around to it. The final photo shows how hellebores and mini daffodils can coexist happily, and will easily push up through some leaf litter.
