Hellebores – Susan Rushton

July 18, 2023

Black and Dusky Flowers

Black flowers are relatively uncommon, and gardeners will understand that a breeder (or a blogger) calling a flower black does not make it so. Then when you do find inky black flowers, they’re not easy to photograph. The quality of light can highlight or conceal whatever blue, purple, red and even green tones are present.

My first shot is one of my favourites. Regular readers who visit my blog directly rather than via the WordPress Reader may recognise it from my sidebar, where I used to keep it. It is overdue an outing.

My second naturally lacks contrast, so will be difficult to make out if you’re visiting on a phone, but it is a hellebore too, this time a fully double one. Continue reading “Black and Dusky Flowers”

March 3, 2023

Warmer Shades of Brown in the Liminal Garden

Today’s selection of pictures is not exactly wintry, but hardly spring. (What is the equivalent of ‘wintry’ for spring – surely not ‘springy’?) Continue reading “Warmer Shades of Brown in the Liminal Garden”

February 17, 2023February 17, 2023

Starry Hellebores and Winter Protection

Pink spotted hellebore

I loved how the speckled pink flowers of this hellebore looked like tumbling stars. By selecting the tumbling angle, and going in close, the image gives an impression of a thicker clump than it really was. In future years, it should be even more glorious. Continue reading “Starry Hellebores and Winter Protection”

March 7, 2020

Hellebore Hybrids: How Doubles Evolve

Two patterned pink hellebores — Pretty in pink

Although we think of hellebores as having petals, technically they are sepals, which accounts for their flowers’ longevity. This single hellebore is one of my favourites I’ve seen this year. Continue reading “Hellebore Hybrids: How Doubles Evolve”

February 16, 2020March 4, 2020

Assessing The Beauty Of Hellebore Hybrids

A plant breeder has the unenviable task of deciding which hybrids to keep and which to discard. The nearest a photographer comes to that experience is when we are in a garden exploring a collection of hybrid plants, deciding which forms to capture.

Pink hellebore with an attractive covering of spots

The nodding habit of most hellebore hybrids forces us to bend and balance as we make our deliberations, lifting each flower head and looking inside. As a general rule, the more regular a pattern, the more photogenic the flower if we are aiming for a fresh look rather than artistic decay, but there are exceptions. Continue reading “Assessing The Beauty Of Hellebore Hybrids”

February 2, 2020February 4, 2020

Green Flowers: Hellebores

Helleborus argutifolius has pale green flowers — Helleborus argutifolius

Green flowers are not always as subtle as they might appear – some of them are very striking. Today I’m sharing pictures of some of my favourite green hellebores.

Helleborus argutifolius produces one sturdy stem thickly clustered with flowers and buds a few shades lighter than the darker green leaves, and with golden stamens. The flowers persist for weeks or even months as with all hellebores, eventually forming equally striking seed heads, pollinators permitting. Like Helleborus foetidus (below) this is widely grown in the UK and can be found in many winter gardens.

Helleborus foetidus with dark foliage — Helleborus foetidus

This particular Helleborus foetidus has dark, purple tinged foliage and pretty purple lines around the edges of the petals (or sepals). At a guess, it is part of the Wester Flisk group. H. foetidus is an architectural plant, not because of its height, but because of the stems of elegant, tiered buds that hang like bells above deep, palmate foliage. Continue reading “Green Flowers: Hellebores”

February 11, 2019March 4, 2020

Winter Walk Around Bodnant Garden in Wales

Bodnant House dwarfed by a large cedar tree

Only last week I was bemoaning the lack of a Tardis to transport me to a snow-covered Bodnant Garden, near Tal-y-Cafn, Conwy, Wales. The universe did not send me a Tardis, but it did the next best thing. A friend asked us to check out the place his family came from – Dolgellau – and Bodnant just happened to be on our way home.

While the snow in the garden had long gone, heavy white shawls on the Snowdonia mountain range opposite gave Bodnant a wintry feeling. The 130 acres of garden give plenty of scope for walking: you really need some form of season ticket* to make the most of it all. Continue reading “Winter Walk Around Bodnant Garden in Wales”