The Blooms in my Shade Garden begin in January

I was greeted the morning with the first blooms of my Lenten Roses! I can never believe it—each year in the 20-30 degree weather this precious plant never fails me. For those of you that are not familiar and have a shady area in your yard—get right down to your local independently owned nursery and get yourself a few of these fabulous
plants.

They grow in deep, dry shade. Best at the base of big old trees that suck the life out of everything else! Deer don’t like the leathery leaves, they begin blooming in December-January depending on the variety you purchase. The blooms last for months unless you cut them for fresh cut flowers as we do and they will reseed after a couple years if they are happy in the spot you gave them. Did I mention they are evergreen so they look pretty good year round?

I grow the variety Orientalis the most common and hardy I believe and least expensive, although you won’t think so when you go to purchase. You see Hellebores or Lenten Roses which ever you call them are very slow growers so this makes them pricey. When you are buying a ½ gallon pot size plant for $20 it is already 2-3 years old- so someone has been caring for them a longtime which leads to the high cost. But they are worth ever penny!

They can be split like Hostas after a few years and one nice plant will make several. If you are good to your plant it will have babies via reseeding and you will have many new plants like I do.

Checkout the Shade Garden Photo Album that includes several Lenten Roses photos.

Cold but still out inthe garden–