Here we are in mid-January. Compared to last year, this January has been more typical for us when it comes to temperatures and snow. Yes, we had snow this past weekend. But, it was nothing compared to the snow we had in December. And, snow helps insulate our plants and gives our plants a slow watering when it melts. The bottom line is that I have no complaints about winter so far.<\/p>\n
Adding color to the landscape can be challenging at this time of the year. Yes, pansies and violas will keep blooming all winter long. If you haven’t planted pansies or violas up to this point, you can still plant and enjoy\u00a0seeing them in bloom. We still have a decent selection of pansies for you to choose from outside our nursery.<\/p>\n
But, what else will flower you may ask?<\/p>\n
Consider planting\u00a0Hellebores<\/strong><\/span>. This evergreen, hardy, shade-loving perennial is just getting “warmed up” in the garden. My hellebores are just beginning to bloom in the landscape. And, the cold snap and snow this past week has had no effect on this plant.<\/p>\n So, to add some winter color and interest to your shade garden you need to look at the hellebores. We have a good selection of assorted hellebores at this time in the nursery that are in bloom or soon to come into bloom.<\/p>\n One of the most popular and easiest to grow are the Oriental hybrid hellebores. Their common name is the Lenton Rose because they bloom around the beginning of Lent. The Lenton Rose blooms in a variety of colors including green, cream, pink, and maroon.<\/p>\n We carry\u00a0many HGC hellebores. HGC stands for Hellebore Gold Collection. The HGC collection included many varieties of hellebore niger and other hybrids and they are propagated by division and not by their flower seed. By propagating from division it guarantees the variety identity. Each HGC variety must pass stringent criteria before they are received into the collection.<\/p>\n