#helleborus

[thefabulousweirdtrotters]

The Stunning Helleborus Black Beauty !

Find out more and Seeds here : ETSY

[los-plantalones]

helleborus x ballardiae ‘camelot’

[nordicsublime]

Hellebores

[jillraggett]

Plant of the Day

Tuesday 27 February 2024

A strong plant association for winter interest is created around this Helleborus foetidus Wester Flisk Group (stinking hellebore). This evergreen perennial form has stems flushed with dark red and pale green flowers usually edged with purple.

Jill Raggett

[royalhenoil]

Hellebores bloom in winter. However, on very rare occasions, they might bloom in summer as well. The summer flower is often a very different color from the normal winter flower.

For the first time in my life, one of my hellebores is blooming in summer:

For comparison, this is what its flower looks like in winter:

[banefolk]

Christmas Botanicals Series: Black Hellebore

Next up in the christmas botanicals series is the christmas rose, also known as black hellebore. Hellebore is a flowering perennial with evergreen leaves in the famously poisonous Ranunculaceae family which also contains aconites (wolfsbane), delphiniums, meadow rues, clematis species, and ranunculus (ranging from wild buttercups to ornamental flowers).

Hellebore contains saponins, cardiac glycosides, and other toxins. While ingestion of hellebore may not be deadly to humans, it is incredibly unpleasant. Symptoms include contact dermatitis, burning skin, burning of the mouth and throat, stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness, confusion, and irregular heartbeat.

Hellebore was one of the first documented chemical weapons used in warfare. The Greeks used the potently poisonous leaves to taint the entire water supply of the sacred city of Kirrha in 585 BCE to end a 10-year siege. It did not kill the residents but incapacitated them with vomiting and diarrhea while the Greek army invaded and slaughtered the entire population by the sword.

Hellebore has been venerated as a powerful plant by multiple ancient civilizations and was included in medical texts by the likes of Hippocrates and Theophrastus.

Black hellebore eventually became associated with christmas due to its evergreen leaves and naturally blooming in winter near the older date of christmas from the Julian calendar. Like mistletoe, the association is likely older than christianity and it was also brought in the home during the dark of winter to protect from evil spirits, ghosts, witches, and illness, but unlike mistletoe hanging in the roof rafters, hellebore was supposedly strewn on the ground with the rushes. Like hanging mistletoe, people in the British Isles and Europe continued the protective practice after converting to the new religion. Today the practice has changed to decorating with hellebore flowers for christmas.

[kihaku-gato]

First Hellebore blooms of the season! I think this is also the first time this specimen has had this much foliage which has lead to this very distinct, but beautiful circle/halo of green foliage surrounding the emerging fresh young purple foliage and blooms.

I find this surprise quite breathtaking from such a slow but steady perennial!

[bloomsandfoliage]

Hellebore

[sempergrower]

HELLEBORUS THIBETANUS

[wiley-treehouse-gardens]

Treehouse Gardens

[poop-me-a-flower]

Hellebores.

[claimtheskies]

Hellebor(k)us

[haveyougrownthisplant]

[jillraggett]

Plant of the Day

Thursday 15 February 2024

The hardy, clump-forming perennial, Helleborus orientalis (Lenten rose) flowers in early spring. This plant has leathery, dark green leaves divided into leaflets and here the old foliage has been removed so the flowers can be clearly seen. After flowering the new foliage will emerge. The flowers can be variable in colour with shades of greenish-white to pink or purple and the flowers are often spotted.

Jill Raggett

[coffeenuts]

Helleborus / Christrose / Nieswurz by p.tinsz https://flic.kr/p/2n2WtZR

[bwthornton]

#Moorcroft Pottery 370/2 Helleborus Kerry Goodwin

#Moorcroft Pottery 370/2 Helleborus Kerry Goodwin