Thanks Polly. I had to sit down for a while but after reading your response I'm feeling much better.

So Helleborus x orientalis 'Winter Queen® Strain' is a cultivar.

I found David Culps site discussing his Brandywine Hybrids™: http://www.davidlculp.com/
These would be written Helleborus x hybridus 'Brandywine Hybrids™' or Helleborus 'Brandywine Hybrids™' ?

eclayne said:Thanks Polly. I had to sit down for a while but after reading your response I'm feeling much better.

Good one Evan!

Evan, HOA (Home Owners Association).
Tony Avant sure has a way with words.

Evan I am not great with the exact way plants are named , I see a lot of contradictions at different sources. But as far as series go I think it is mostly for advertising similar to trade names. For example I know if a plant has Cone-fections It will be a double Echinacea from AB Cultivars.

And when strain is part of a cultivar name it seem to mean that they are not all true to form. Most times I try to avoid them because you never now exactly what you are getting.

Polly I would say that you are right that series could have strains in them.

In Sempervivum there is a Pacific series. All the plants start with the name Pacific, it is part of the name. And all of the plants are different. http://garden.org/plants/searc...

Sidetracked! I want that Delosperma 'Fire Spinner'! http://www.perennials.com/cont...

Ain't she purty. Perfect for your area Sue?

OK Lynn I get it. It's coming clear Bob. Seed strain=strain. Makes sense. The year after buying my first Hellebore's I waited to see them bloom at the nursery to know what color they were (the 2 Winter Queen I had bought were a white and a pink). Wonderful what you can learn here.

I really wanted that one but when mamajack checked it for a co-op she was told it was sold out.

Evan I just think of a strain as a mix.
But a series can also be seed strains. For example all of the different colors of the double Winter Jewel Series are seed strains. So each plant is slightly different. What they do instead of tissue culture is to keep some of the same ones in a confined space so they can only be hand pollinated from each other.