Back to Spring

Summer has bowed out gracefully...and just in time! 

Many of our early spring blooms have come and gone already

 with temps in the high 70's and 80's for a week.

Sharing with you our remaining gifts from Mother Nature:

Pretty Pink Magnolia

Narcissus

Helleborus- such a happy crowd!

Chionadoxa with the periwinkle blooms- yum!

And a great start to the highlight of spring in our garden- the tree peonies. 

Look at that growth! 

My guess is the saucer-sized blooms won't arrive for weeks yet, though.

How is your garden doing?

Spring on the Lake

with the deep blue, mesmerizing water...

the sand...

and our helleborus happily blooming- yes! 

It's a gorgeous spring day here- how about you?

Happy Hellebores

Right about now, I am ready for a happily flowering plant in the garden. Hellebores, often called the Lenten rose, fits that bill nicely.

Hellebores are a semi-woodland plant, so can be planted in partially shaded locations. Their foliage remains through the winter, but you may prefer to prune out the old foliage by late winter to see the blooms emerging anytime from January to April, depending on the locale's conditions.

Hellebores are best purchased while in bloom in order to accurately see the flower's color. Just look at the beautiful colors that are available.

For those of you in the UK, you may want to check out Harveys Garden Plants in Suffolk. Harveys is a family-run nursery that specializes in hellebores. Harvey has developed cultivars called Bradfield hybrids,  that have outward-facing blooms rather than the pendant (downward facing) blooms- a big plus in my book. Here are some of Harvey's hybrids:

Winter Sunshine

Bradfield Star White

Resembles clematis, wouldn't you say?

Bradfield purple/black

Love the color!

Do you grow hellebores in your garden?

[4-6 Photos by Richard Bloom]