Have you grown hellebores yet?
I have long been a big fan of hellebores. I planted ours about four years ago. They were a bit slow to get established, which apparently is not altogether unusual. Then last year–their third year–they took off. This year they are really making a show of themselves. I tidied mine up yesterday and thought I would do a little show and tell. But now I can’t resist a bit of hellebores boosterism too. So if you haven’t yet added some to your garden, let me offer seven reasons why you should.
1. Hellebores can be grown in a variety of locations. They are most famously known as shade plants. That is true. They do grow nicely in the shade, as you can see from the hellebores on the north side of our house. But they are very flexible plants and will bloom very nicely, thank you very much, in partly sunny areas as well.
2. Hellebores bloom very early. Here in Maryland they bloom in February–long before the forsythia and daffodils make an appearance–and last well into summer.
3. Hellebores are green all year long. Unlike some perennials, such as irises, that get unsightly after the blooms are spent, hellebores keep up their appearance even in the coldest and hottest months of the year.
4. Hellebores require little care. Once you have established hellebores in a well-prepared bed, the only maintenance required is trimming off the old foliage in February or late winter or when they become scraggly. Divide them in the spring to ensure good ventilation.
5. Although not the boldest colors in the garden, hellebores come in a variety of colors, from white to pink to deep purple to green.
6. Hellebores have relatively few pests and diseases. Although no plant is invulnerable to attack, hellebores are amazingly hardy.
7. Once established, hellebores are drought tolerant. And if you lived through the drought last summer like I did, you know there are lots of other plants that are much more finicky about their water than hellebores.
Are you convinced yet? And if you have them, how are you hellebores?
Robin
Colleen V. at In the Garden Online established these awards to recognize excellence in “online gardening.” You can vote for for up to three of your favorite blogs in each category by going here. There are categories in:
-Best writing
-Best photography
-Best design
-Most innovative
-Blogger you’d most like as a neighbor
-Best gardening podcast
-Best North American blog
-Best international blog
-Best new blog
-Post of the year
-Garden blog of the year
-Best forums
-Best gardening site of the year
I already have most of my nominations decided. But it’s not too late for you to woo me with cookies and pies to submit your blog. I can be bought we sweets! I’ll wait until near the deadline to send in my votes so you don’t have to pay for FedEx to get all the treats to me in time.
We all need to get our votes in by April 13. Don’t worry. You’ll still have two days to do your taxes!
And while you’re voting, don’t forget to have your say about blog posts on garden products here on Bumblebee. The poll is in the upper right hand corner of this page.
Now go vote!
Robin
Some images just stick with you…like the idea of eight million bees loose on the freeway.
This story came out of California a couple of days ago. It seems that a truck hauling 440 colonies of bees overturned–setting loose EIGHT MILLION BEES! That’s an image I can’t get out of my mind. Take a look at the photo at the bottom of this news story.
It seems that the big rig that was hauling the bees home overturned, setting loose all the flying critters. It shut down traffic for hours while several other beekeepers–WHO HAPPENED TO BE PASSING BY THE ACCIDENT–wrangled them back into the colonies to be hauled away.
The good news is that bees are very orderly creatures. Once the hives were set up the buzzing bees rendez-voused with their brethren so they could be transported to their next job. Some bees were lost. And it will take a while to sort out the whole one-queen-per-hive issue. But for the most part, the cool-headed beekeepers efficiently dealt with eight million potential problems fairly handily.
First, I didn’t know that there were itinerant bees. I thought that bees were pretty much home-based and took care of their own fields and crops. But these bees were apparently being trucked back to Washington state after a gig in the San Joaquin Valley.
Second, who knew that there were so many bees a coming and going that there would be more than one big bunch of beekeepers on a single stretch of California highway? What are the chances? Well, apparently pretty good in California. But then, California is a special place, no?
My head is still buzzing with the thought of eight million bees on the loose.
Robin
