Heaven and Hellebores

Fresh picked beauties

A year ago, I had never heard of Hellebores. And now, all varieties of colors, sizes and shapes are under my care and greet me when I walk around the garden. I am so grateful to the previous owner for creating this lovely winter oasis. It must have been very hard for her to leave it behind.

When I trimmed away the old leaves
and saw these purple veined flowers,
I gasped at their beauty.

Every day it seems there is a fresh debut of another gorgeous variation of plums, purples, pinks and whites in the amazing assortment of Hellebores that surround our property.

Dark plum center with
dainty plum veins

Thanks to several warm spring-like days, I'm gradually making progress at trimming the old leaves. So far, I've managed to refresh about a half of the sixty or so plants.The plants that have had their old leaves trimmed off look young and fresh while the flowers on the untrimmed plants are hidden under a shaggy green mane.

After the leaves are cleared away, I work compost into the soil around the plants. According to the Mercer County Horticulturist (and our Master Gardener Advisor), the unhealthy looking leaves shown in the previous blog may have been caused by a lack of organic matter. Considering how lovely the soil is to work with, and all the leaf mulch everywhere, I find that hard to believe. But there's probably no such thing as too much organic matter. And it just so happens that one of my compost piles has reached the chocolate cake crumbs stage and I can put it to good use.

Exquisite plum specks on a cream
to mauve gradated background

Rash Behavior

One of Hellebores' most beautiful qualities is that deer don't eat them. That's probably because they're poisonous. (Some ancient societies used Hellebores as a substitute for Digitalis). The poison gives me a rash where the leaves touch my skin. Now I wear rose gloves that go up to my elbows. And, I've added a new post-exposure regime that involves washing my hands and face with dish detergent to remove toxic oils from the plant and then I take an antihistamine to prevent allergic reactions.

Plum with lavender veins

It's a small price to pay in order to enjoy such exquisite beauty.