What a beautiful start for spring!

Jo Ann - really nice! It IS hard to get the photos. Yesterday while I was trying to take the photos of mine, I was completely prone on the ground. Little Tinker dog that I'm watching while the neighbors are on vacation was a combination of confused and concerned. She kept standing over me and nuzzling at me to make sure I was ok . Ground was cold and muddy so I was a sight when I came in. Probably TMI, but the dampness and mud had seeped into my pants, into my undergarments, all the way to my skin. Hot bath was definitely in order

O M G, I am too stoved up with bad knees to lay down . I always respect anyone's hellebores just for the fact they are so hard to photo. We all know what's involved.

This is so true, very difficult to get good pictures. Beautiful shots from everyone.

I found Molly's white the other day at a local nursery. It is a sister seedling of 'Anna's red' and Penny's pink.




The flowers are aged so not really white anymore.


The new growth of foliage is stunning.

Julia, I'll say !!!! That is just beautiful foliage.

Ohhhh, I like that 'Molly's White' Julia! I'll have to keep an eye out for it.

Those of you in colder climates might be careful with this group. I'm not sure what the parentage is on theses but I have found that pink marbal with the variegated foliage is not the hardest. Annie's annual rates it good to zone 8, other sites to zone 7.

Anyone know about this as to Anna's red and the others in this group?

Did a bit of research looks to be a cross of helleborus lividus, Nigeria and a hybrid. Should be good to colder zones. Most sites say coldest is zone 4 or 5.

Aspenhill!

I'm loving these hellebores pictures. I have some unnamed ones that are blooming now, but unfortunately most of them turned out to be white. Not that I mind white, but it would've been nice to get a variety of colors.

That Molly's white looks great. Still waiting for my Hellebore. When we had that very cold streak where wind chills brought us to -20 the top growth died on almost all of them. Only maybe 3 out of 20 something plants showing any signs of life right now just hope they come back.

I hope they are ok, that's crazy cold. You have to catch a break soon.

Hopefully I will see some signs of life soon, the ones that had buds I am sure will see no flowers this year.

That's so sad. We wait all year for flowers, how disappointing.

Another area cleaned up. Some Pineknot select, plugs from Mamajack a few years ago.

Julia, those hellebores and beds are looking nice. Pine Knot Select was my first hellebores purchase several years ago and they are the most mature in my hellebores collection. They have really come into their own, nice and full, and seedlings have self spread to form a nice sized colony over the years.

Aspen--
Beautiful pictures! I was going to ask you how you photographed them from below--
but you alredy explained.
There is NO way in the World that i could get down flat to take pictures. !!!
Picture this--me rolling over--getting on all fours and then getting up.
I would be mud from head to toe.

--I have tried these couple 'trick" to get a decent picture of the blooms.
Use a small twig or stick to prop them up. ...click!..

--Do a "blind shot"--turn the camera upside down to snap a pic--and hope the bloom is
somewhere in the lens frame. If not--do it again..and again...till one turns out OK. Delete the bad ones.

I may go outside right now and see what I can come up with. Mine are all in bloom now.

Ready for the temps tonight? In the 30's....maybe even a dusting of snow. Good Grief!!!

Gita

Another way to photograph the blooms if you don't mind picking a few off of the plants is to float them in a container. Mike and I saw this display method for appreciating the hellebores flowers without having to get down on the ground to see them when we were at the Pine Knot Farm Winter Festival a few years ago. Mike, who has absolutely no interest in gardening, was really taken with this idea and has spoken of it often. He actually asked me about it again last night when I was showing him the photos I had taken the other day.

Gita I will try the stick prop idea. The blind multishots do work.

Beautiful hellebores!!! I'm really enjoying the show

There is actually a photographic gadget specially designed to hold onto flower stems so that you can angle them however you like. It's called The Plamp and is perhaps a bit pricey for what it is, but you should be able to find similar flexible arms for a little less as well: http://www.tripodhead.com/prod... . Anyway, despite the price I highly recommend it.