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Hi! I am Dave Epstein and I want to introduce you today here at Growing Wisdom the helleborus. And helleborus are one of my favorite spring perennials. Take a look at this. They are just absolutely spectacular. This particular variety is called niger, and you think niger means black and this is white but the roots are actually black, the flower is spectacular, this wonderful white color. This is also called the Christmas Rose because in some parts of the country this blooms during Christmas, South of Washington DC as you get into some of the warmer climates. And even in some years in some northern latitudes this will bloom a little bit earlier. As you get into zone 7, 6 and 5 this is more of a spring time blooming plant. The leaves here are last years leaves and I actually like them around the plant.
Now this is orientalis, another variety of a hellebore. Similar to what we showed with niger, only the color is different. This particular variety have sort of this pinkish mauve color with a little bit of white, and almost green in the flower and there are many different varieties of this hellebores ranging from purples to pinks, to even green, you can also see the leaves here, this are last years leaves, have remained all winter long and eventually they will be new leaves coming up.
The great thing about this is how long they last. These particular flowers will not only last one, two, three weeks. They can last up to two months long sitting here so you will see them here well into the spring even leading into the summer months. Where do you place this, again, they like very rich, sort of woodsy kind of soil, they love the spring time sunshine and they do benefit from some shade during the course of the summer so deciduous tree, a tree where the leaves come out later on in the sprig is a wonderful spot for this.
Our third variety of hellebore, foetidus and a very different looking hellebore for sure. The leaves look different, they are thinner but they are really beautiful. The thing about this particular guy, the smell. It is not great. I want to say it almost has a smell like a bit like a skunk, so you are not going to grow this for the scent, but you may grow it for the leaves. You may also grow it for the flowers, they are very different looking. They will last a long time, a couple of months. The flowers are really almost a lime green color, very different, very interesting.
So we have introduced you to three different varieties of hellebore. Just a wonderful addition any perennial garden. The great thing about foetidus, this can handle a little bit more sunshine than the other two we just showed you. Come back every week for all of our information here at www.GrowingWisdom.com.
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