Saving the best till last

I know we have all been putting hellebore on our posts for a few weeks now and we are getting a bit hellebore bored but, I do have something to share. Many years ago, could be around 30 years ago, an elderly lady gave me a hellebore plant that always grew variegated leaves, in those days I was a novice gardener and didn’t know a hellebore from my elbow. Well for all these years this plant has given me a few straggly variegated leaves and no flowers, that is until this year. Finally I have flowers that to me look quite stripey and the leaves at the back of the flowers are definitely variegated. Now is this a new type of hellebore or are you going to tell me that you have one too. I would love to know…..

Taking a break from sewing

Over the last few weeks the sewing room has taken over what with a jacket for me, some dressing up clothes for the G/daughters school Book Week and a new jacket under way for Mr Malc. I decided to have a break and sow some seeds. This I did last Saturday and several pots came up in 3 days, I didn’t think it was that warm. During the autumn I had sown sweetpeas which came up in abundance only to be grazed by mice, probably the same ones I disturbed when I tidied the back of the greenhouse. Anyway I have now moved them to the shed and they are now growing away nicely. So what follows are a few pictures of what caught my eye while walking around the garden a couple of days ago.

My sister got me this basket for my birthday last December, so I’ve filled it with plants bought from Stones on the market in Nottingham, always a first stop for good quality plants. Nothing unusual but reliable fillers.

An unnamed Hellebore, looks like the leaves are going to be interesting.

Corydalis cheilanthifolia, I really like this, it’s more accommodating than the annual thug you get. The leaves are a fresh green/grey and I don’t find it seeds all over the place.

One of the yellow Hellebores I bought last year.

And the double is flowering nicely too.

This Hellebore I grew from seed many years ago. In my daughters garden it grows to about a metre tall and is very bushy. I lost my original plant so this is a seedling from that plant. My daughters must be very sheltered as I have known it flower way before xmas in the past….any ideas…??  The unnamed hellebore at the top of my pictures could possibly be a seedling… ??

At this time of year the garden is taken over by crocus, one of the few plants that were growing in the garden when we came here back in the late 70s. They do make a lovely splash of colour once the sun comes out. So back to the sewing room I think my sewing machine will have cooled down by now……