Kellie's Hellebores

impatience · Post by **impatience** » Feb 02, 2006 11:10 pm

What are O'Byrne plants?

isam, thanks for this info. I just love those hellebores-some are definitely prettier than others, but they are are great! (I am becoming a bit more discerning, but they are so new to me-last three years-that I am just thrilled that they have been "discovered" here).-

insam · Post by **insam** » Feb 03, 2006 11:29 pm

They are plants from Northwest garden nursery. You can see the nice galleries here. Some of their stock plants are from Heronswood. We are now in a good situation in North America because growers who collected from Europe over the past decade or two have made great progress.
http://www.northwestgardennursery.com

I know what you mean about discovery. I'm a bit of a hellebore freak (thats' why I get excited and sometimes post more information than necessary

), but my garden is in Tennesee and relatively few hellebores were available locally, even recently. So I had to get plants and seed from all over the world, not as easy as going to a great nursery. I grow all the species except one and many hybrids. They are wonderful plants and over half the garden is devoted to them. I'm happy to see their popularity is rising across the country. Soon we will all have wonderful plants in our gardens. I will post some photos after my Europe trip where I will study plants in the wild. You might be surprised that many species plants are equally as stunning as hybrids that have been developed for decades. Some are still absent in gardens unfortunately, and many have incredible foliage. New ones are still being discovered.

impatience · Post by **impatience** » Feb 04, 2006 12:34 pm

Thanks imsam! There is no such thing as too much information on this subject! How many plants do you have? I am glad to hear that they do well in Tenn as you are practically a neighbor.

I am just loving these plants. I haven't had them long enough to have big stands of them, but one year I will. I want them everywhere.

Doris_J · Post by **Doris_J** » Feb 04, 2006 12:58 pm

We're having a nasty wind storm here today, but I still managed to get some updated photos of more of Kellie's plants.

Here's a cute small yellow that Kellie and I liked last year. The flowers are smaller than most of the Hellebores.

I also have a gorgeous red. Not a great pic, because the wind is blowing too much, but you get the idea.

Doris_J · Post by **Doris_J** » Feb 04, 2006 1:00 pm

Another yellow, a nice rose-colored semi double, and a large plant that is just getting ready to open. You can see the spots inside the buds.

Doris_J · Post by **Doris_J** » Feb 04, 2006 4:25 pm

Lovely burgandies

kHT · Post by **kHT** » Feb 04, 2006 8:58 pm

Thanks Doris, you just made my day very special. We started off with lots of crashes and booms here. I just tossed 4 wheel barrows of pine over the back fence and have 12 more raked up before the wind and rain kicked in again.

Kellie those are some of the most awsome Hellies I have seen.

Doris_J · Post by **Doris_J** » Feb 05, 2006 12:49 am

Here were more that I took this morning in the wind. The power went out here around noon, and it just came back on this evening.

Doris_J · Post by **Doris_J** » Feb 05, 2006 1:01 am

All done.

insam · Post by **insam** » Feb 05, 2006 7:46 am

Those are all very lovely Doris. The 'hellwhtburg' is very special. Is it dark on the back of the sepals? Contrast like this is lovely i think, and the form is just perfect.

impatience wrote:How many plants do you have? I am glad to hear that they do well in Tenn as you are practically a neighbor.

Impatience, they will do well for you. We do have a similar climate. I have no idea how many plants I have, but I suppose mature plants are in the hundreds and total plants in the thousands. I plant hundreds of seed every year from various breeders as well as some from my own crosses etc, so there is always a new crop blooming each year. I separate a small percentage for hybridizing and always have more than I need. I'd be happy to send you some seedlings to get you started later in summer. Can't be certain what they'll turn out to be, but could send a variety. I'm in Seoul until the end of June and will not be able to pollinate this year.

Here is an old photo showing the garden environment. It is at the edge of woodland, and the plants receive full sun in afternoon. The apricot in the photo is interesting; the interior is a saturated yellow with bicolor on the backs of the sepals.

impatience · Post by **impatience** » Feb 05, 2006 11:03 am

Thousands!

More pics, please!

I would love to have some seedlings from your land. Thank you very much for the offer.

Doris_J · Post by **Doris_J** » Feb 05, 2006 12:34 pm

Joseph, I love hellwhtburg too, and in the picture, it looks like the back of the sepals would be burgandy, but they're not. Here's a pic. Lots of burgandy veining on white.

And here's a couple more from this morning.

Doris_J · Post by **Doris_J** » Feb 05, 2006 12:39 pm

Oh, and I love that apricot of yours, Joseph. Just gorgeous!

Here's one of Kellie's husband John's favorites, and I really like this one, too. I'm hoping it's a breeder. Come on, baby, Mama needs a new pair of shoes! Gimme the seeds! Don't be stingy!

Won't you all join me in a Hellebore reproduction chant? Kind of like doing a rain dance. But we're hoping for seed production. Let's go.

Oh, pollen, pollen, pollen, pollen...ovary, ovary, ovary, ovary...seed, seed, seed, seed...

Doris_J · Post by **Doris_J** » Feb 05, 2006 2:09 pm

More black Hellebores. These guys always produce lots of seed.

BillyB · Post by **BillyB** » Feb 05, 2006 2:46 pm

Here's a shot of one bloom that's opened. For some reason mine are not fairing as well this year. But it's still verly early in the season for us.

LucyGoose · Post by **LucyGoose** » Feb 05, 2006 5:06 pm

My Goodness! All these pretties! I really like that bi-color picture of yours insam....I like them all!

Doris_J · Post by **Doris_J** » Feb 05, 2006 7:31 pm

Ha! Hey, Joseph, I was wrong! That isn't a pic of the outside sepals on hellwhtburg! I had the wrong hellebore! I found the correct one this afternoon! And the outside sepals are a light burgandy. This is a lousy picture but here it is.

Doris_J · Post by **Doris_J** » Feb 05, 2006 7:34 pm

Billy, my Hellebores vary from year to year. Some years, the flowers and foliage on some plants just limp along. I do seem to be having a good year now, but last year was not as good.

More pics...

KellieD · Post by **KellieD** » Feb 06, 2006 12:48 am

Thanks, KHT!! I had forgotten just how beautiful my collection was. I'll be working at the Heronswood Hellebore Open in a couple of weeks, so I'll let you know what new treasures I end up with.

Want to bet Doris won't let me reclaim them until after this year's seed is ripe?!!

insam · Post by **insam** » Feb 06, 2006 1:13 am

impatience wrote:Thousands! More pics, please!

Well, that includes young seedlings. Hundreds is probably less of an exaggeration.

Anyway, unfortunately I don't have many photos but I'll post a few old photos in a new thread. Just don't expect them to be as cool as these plants! And I promise to post photos of the last two generations plus some of the new ones next year. It's hard knowing they are blooming and not getting to see the new ones.

But it provides something to look forward to.

More wonderful photos of great plants Doris. Keep them coming! That one is a beauty, hopefully it will set seed. Some doubles don't set seed well but their pollen can be used on singles (or more receptive doubles) to obtain double offspring.