This is the second spring I've enjoyed blooms from my two 'Pink Tea Cup' hellebores. This plant is hardy in zones 5 through 9, its leaves are evergreen and it prefers partial shade. Once established, it can handle dry shade. This cultivar grows about two feet tall and wide.
It's interesting how the color of pink shifts from cool to warm depending on the light. Here you can see the buds, which formed in the first part of April.
Soon the flowers opened their nodding pink heads.
This cultivar is propogated from tissue culture, so all of the plants are uniform, unlike seedling hellebore lines. There are some variations in flower color on each plant, though. The flower above is lighter than most of the others on this plant.
At the end of April, the flowers were still going strong.
You can see that some of the blooms face outward and others look down.
This flower is forming seed pods. I haven't had any seedling hellebores come up yet, but other gardeners have reported plenty of reseeding from their hellebores.
This final shot shows a new leaf emerging. When mature, the plant will form a lovely clump of wide, hand-shaped leaves that will look fresh until the first part of next year.
It's a beautiful color. I so admire these pretty perennials with their great colors.
ReplyDeleteCher Sunray Gardens
Hello VW girl !
ReplyDeleteI don't have this one and it looks so lovely ! .. I am waiting for Red Racer to show up with my mail order plants .. for which I am in a bit of a panic trying to figure out where am I going to put them all ? .. During winter they all seemed to be such a great idea .. but now as the garden is growing to monster proportions I am SCARED !!! LOL
Joy ..
Great Pictures girl !
Hi VW,
ReplyDeleteBeautiful blooms, a very nice pink shade too :)
Some of my Hellebores are still blooming... Although I suspect the high temps we're having this week will soon put an end to that!
I hope the weather is being kind to you too!
That certainly is a lovely hellebore... and a beautiful post! I find I am getting a taste for posts that explore a single plant photographically from a number of different perspectives, etc. I also wanted to respond to your question regarding fertilizing my intersectionals. I've been using llama "beans" but found that the raccoons liked to dig in them. This year and soon, I'm going to side dress with some very aged horse manure that originally had no bedding mixed in... it's beautiful if 'poo' can be described in that way! Regarding the blooming... I have four Barztellas and two are within 15 feet of each other... both were planted at the same time and were the same size.. this year one has lots of buds and the other only a couple. I think they may be inconsistent in the earlier years ... just a suspicion. By the way... i was told by someone who knows the developer Roger Anderson that one of the original plants of Bartzella had 300 blooms... fact or fiction I'm not certain, but a nice thought anyway! I will be posting more photos of my intersectionals as more buds open... in fact, need to get some pics now as the sun has gone under... Larry
ReplyDeleteThat is a long bloom time! Love the delicate pink color. I have a pink one, 'Pink Frost' slow to really put on a show so far, maybe another year and it will take off.
ReplyDelete