This hellebore always astonishes me with its profligacy, an almost overabundance of buds and, in due course, flowers. I have to remember not to trim its marbled leaves, a feature of x ericsmithii hellebores; this one is H ‘Piroueutte’ and I can visualise it twirling round and around with its swirling pink skirts, like a whirling dervish.
Most hellebores here are now in bud, with one or two fully in bloom, rather earlier than most years, when it can be as late as March. Below is a lovely yellow variety, its label hidden under its generous new foliage:
A mature hellebore plant is a thing of beauty, and in a few weeks I could easily fill a Six on Saturday post several times over with hellebores. In the meantime there are other winter treats to enjoy in the garden, like the first of the common snowdrops coming into bloom, invariably the double G flore pleno:
I nearly lost my pink pussy willow, Salix gracilistyla ‘Mount Aso’ last year, having moved it from the Coop Corner to the woodland edge border, then subjecting it to bitterly cold winter days and a dry summer. It survived, however, losing growth from one side only, with a lopsided result, and this winter it will be half-covered with pink fuzzy pussies, so perhaps this out-of-focus picture is appropriate! Such a pretty plant, but a shame about its one-sidedness…
I tried to get a named variety of the winter flowering currant, Ribes laurifolium, but had to make do with the ordinary species; still, it has unusual yellow-green sweetly smelling blooms which are just beginning to emerge and although still a very small shrub it has settled in well on the fringe of the woodland edge border, adding more interest at this time of year:
There has been the occasional sight of a primrose in
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