winter flowering plants

What happened in Glandorf, thankfully didn’t stay in Glandorf

Leave a Comment • Educational Topics, Plant images from the garden and nursery, Plant Spotlight • By •

One of several breakthroughs in lenten rose breeding has been the development of the Helleborus x glandorfensis hybrids by the breeders at Germany’s Heuger hellebores. In the town of Glandorf, near the border with Netherlands, these amazing crosses of Helleborus x hybridus with Helleborus x ericsmithii (niger x lividus x argutifolius) were developed. While there

What happened in Glandorf, thankfully didn’t stay in Glandorf Read More »

Icebergs are breaking off, but Iburgs are breaking bad

2 Comments • Educational Topics, Plant images from the garden and nursery, Plant Spotlight • By •

Another recent dramatic improvement in hybrid lenten roses started at the small mom/pop nursery in England, RD plants. Here, Rodney David and Lynda Windsor created the first known hybrids of Hellleborus x ballardiae (niger x lividus) and Helleborus x hybridus. These revolutionary hybrids, previously thought impossible, are now known as Helleborus x iburgensis. They combine

Icebergs are breaking off, but Iburgs are breaking bad Read More »

Ooops a Daisy

Leave a Comment • Educational Topics, Plant images from the garden and nursery, Plant Spotlight • By •

Many clonal plants we grow today are propagated by tissue culture…also known as micropropagation. In most cases, this involves taking tiny cuttings and growing them in a test tube filled with a goey algae product known as agar. Tissue culture allows many rare plants to be produced quickly and often inexpensively, which is great when

Ooops a Daisy Read More »

We are the Champion…of the hellebore world

1 Comment • Plant images from the garden and nursery, Plant Spotlight • By •

You know a breeder (Hueger) thinks a lot of their introduction when they give it the name ‘Champion’, and we can’t argue with their selection of this fabulous form of the sterile Helleborus x ericsmithii, flowering currently in the JLBG gardens. It’s nothospecific namesake recognized the late English gardener/plant breeder, Eric Smith, at Buckshaw Gardens.

We are the Champion…of the hellebore world Read More »

Helleborus x ballardiae – Helen’s legacy

Leave a Comment • Plant images from the garden and nursery, Plant Spotlight • By •

The late English gardener, Helen Ballard, carried the title, Queen of the Hellebores from the 1960s until her death in the mid-1990s. Although she worked primarily with Helleborus x hybridus, she also was one of the first people to cross Helleborus niger with Helleborus lividus. Those crosses, formerly known as Helleborus x nigerliv, now officially

Helleborus x ballardiae – Helen’s legacy Read More »

It stinks to be ignored

Leave a Comment • Plant images from the garden and nursery, Plant Spotlight • By •

With all the emphasis on the amazing colored flower hellebores, folks seem to have forgotten the amazing green-flowered Helleborus foetidus, commonly known as stinking hellebore or bear claw hellebore. To remind everyone how great it is, here is a photo from the garden this week of Helleborus foetidus ‘Krenitsky’. This easy-to-grow species forms a 2′

It stinks to be ignored Read More »

Does this witch hazel ring a bell?

2 Comments • Plant images from the garden and nursery, Plant Spotlight • By •

Completely unlike its namesake, this dwarf beauty is a sight to behold. Flowering in the garden now, Hamamelis vernalis ‘Quasimodo’ is a miniature selection of the Midwest US native witch hazel. Our six-year-old specimen is a whopping 4′ tall, so this gem can be tucked into much smaller sites that full-size selections.

Does this witch hazel ring a bell? Read More »

Well hello, Madame!

Leave a Comment • Plant images from the garden and nursery, Plant Spotlight • By •

There have been some amazing advancements in hellebore breeding during the last decade, and near the top of the list is the amazing Helleborus x lemonnierae ‘Madame Lemonnier’. Here are a couple of images from the garden this week of this cross between the Christmas rose, Helleborus niger and the Lenten rose, Helleborus x hybridus.

Well hello, Madame! Read More »

Cyclamen are like Snowflakes

2 Comments • Plant images from the garden and nursery, Plant Spotlight • By •

Cyclamen hederifolium is a great addition to the winter garden. They begin flowering in late fall/early winter before the foliage. When foliage emerges it will remain during the winter. The foliage is quite dramatic with intricate patterning of silver and shades of green. Most hardy cyclamen are grown from seed, so like snowflakes, no two

Cyclamen are like Snowflakes Read More »

Scroll to Top