Winter Blossoms

I wasn’t sure if I should go out into the garden and attempt to take pictures, ‘cause what are you gonna find in this climate in the middle of winter, but then I remembered the hellebores. What glorious plants they are, evergreen and blooming in January as if weather is not one of their conce
s!

I had them in the back yard for a few years and still can’t adjust to the idea of winter bloom, especially since spring seems to make us wait longer and longer each year, or maybe it just feels like that to me, because I loathe the cold season.

Hellebores own the garden for almost two months, the only flowers in bloom until the early spring bulbs come along, then they share the garden with the other spring perennials for another two months, and boast the fruitfulness of their very pregnant seed heads until the middle of June.
They bloom in the sunshine, they bloom in the shade. They like dry clay, poor soil, neglect and overcrowding. Are these for real?

Gardeners say hellebores don’t like their roots disturbed. Before I learned this, I dug mine up in the middle of summer, unceremoniously chopped them up into small clumps and used them to populate an area of the garden that is as close to dry shade as it gets before it gets labeled impossible to plant. They loved it.

Now I have an entire garden of hellebores, blooming faithfully at the end of January, right on schedule.