Hellebores in the Shade Path Garden

Pink and spotted Hellebores orientalis hybrid in our Shade Path this week.

I was out with an umbrella yesterday afternoon to get a few photos of the Lenten Roses (Hellebores) blooming in our Pennsylvania,  zone 5 garden. These may be nothing new to the blogging world, but they are are real and beautiful to us!

This Hellebores hybrid has a much more upright habit than the others. This photo is looking straight on it, without any flower support (as is normally needed for photographing Hellebores).

This dark-flowered Hellebores variety is striking. It goes very well with the dark purple crocuses and snowdrops in the area.

On the path of our garden, I look down on the rain drops on the backs of the petals...

...But walking down below on the sidewalk (see The Shade Path on our map), you get a great view of the flowers. I planted these for some friends on a retaining wall at the back of their house, which gives them a similar view. Good to keep in mind that these can be better viewed at an elevation.

They are very low-maintenance plant, only needing to have their old leave cut off during early spring clean-up and given them some mulch in drier shade areas.

Do make sure to clean your scissors or pruners between each plant that you trim to avoid spreading any potential infections, as is good practice in the garden, even though it is unlikely to occur with these plants.  They are extremely pest and disease free.

What do you have blooming in your garden these days?