Heavenly Hellebores

Golden Lotus hellebore

As we knock on the door of April and true spring, the hellebores have arrived! Are they native? Nope. But anything that blooms cheerfully under snow, tolerates dry shade, and isn’t consumed by rabbits, is a winner in my garden.

The Golden Lotus above is my only truly upright blooming one. All are doubles, because if you’re going to have late winter flowers, why not go big? Hellebores are also known as Lenten roses for good reason. This year we are getting spoiled by a lovely fairly typical spring. After the infamous polar vortex of 2019, I will welcome 50s, thank you.

One of the double white ones whose name I forget.

I was inspired by my next door neighbor’s abundant hellebore patches to try some for myself. There are five and each is slowly but surely putting out one stem at a time. These are not fast moving plants. But, they are blooming happily and waving to passers by. They add to my spring ephemerals under the redbud tree. In these tumultuous times, I’m very glad that there are early flowers out front. We all need a little bit of blossom.

Peppermint Ice hellebore