Lenten Rose - Hellebore

One of the coolest plants in my yard...Lenten Rose. It blooms in the time margin between winter and spring. It is evergreen...the leaves you see in the photos are from last year. It spreads by seed but is not invasive. One of its best attributes is the deer won't touch it. The leaves are thick, leathery and have a spiny edge. And it is one my favorite harbingers of spring.

After taking these photos, I cut off the old leaves, just leaving the flower stems. This gives a better flower display and in a few weeks, all new leaves will emerge.

Lenten Rose will thrive in shade to almost full sun. I'm told they don't like to be transplanted, but so far I haven't had any problem with it. The leaves fill in and can make a nice (tall) groundcover. An individual mature plant is 14-18" tall and 18-30" wide.

They come in a limited pallette of colors...whites, greens, pinks, and maroons. But sometimes they are spotted (my spotty ones haven't bloomed yet). They tend to hang their heads down so they aren't flashy.

These will be open soon.

A critter broke this one off. I will stick it in a vial and wear it to work tomorrow. It is a little more white than the photo shows, but it does have green tones. The specks are just dirt.

Hellebore flowers can be brought indoors as cut flowers. But because they hang their heads down, the best way to display them is to float the blossoms in a bowl of water like water lilies.

Dean, you have these by your front doorstep (at least you did before the new garage). Christine, you might have them too.