Page 49 - Free State Spring 2022 - June FINAL

White foliage is a soft marbled green
veined with white which complements
the soft white buds and white and
green nodding saucer shaped flowers.
Frostkiss ‘Moondance’ has dark
™
green silver veined leaves that grow
in a compact clump 18 inches tall by
24 inches wide. The pure white cup
shaped nodding flowers have a center
chartreuse blush that slowly fades to
a softer citron color. There are a few
Hellebores that have leaves on their
flower stalks and they act as a beautiful
frame for the colorful flowers. There are
more beautiful Frostkiss Hellebores
™
including ‘Glenda’s Gloss’, a white
flower lightly bordered by violet, and
®
Pippa’s Purple which has burgundy
flowers speckled with dark purple.

The last group of Hellebores is the
®
Winter Jewels series. Marietta and
Ernie O’Byrne created this group of
beautiful single and double flowering
Hellebore hybrids in the early 1990
from plants grown by German, English
and American growers. They hand
pollinated each promising plant,
wrapping the pollinated flowers to
prevent cross contamination, and
tossing out the results if they don’t met
Ice N’ Roses Pecotee
their standards of ‘clarity of flower color,
vigor and foliage’. Over the years, they
have gone over their beautiful art and
improved the flower colors to be more
vivid, clearer, and brighter. They have
bred for outwardly facing full blossoms,
evenly spaced tepals and color interest
on both the top and inside the blooms.
The single and double flowers are often
on dark stems with a cluster of leaves at
the top, framing the flowers. Some are
sterile and some will toss seeds around
the garden, but all are beautiful.
Helleborus Winter Jewels have a
®
number of beautifully formed single
flowers in rich shades. Helleborus Winter
(continued on next page)
Gold Collection ‘Cinnamon Snow’.

Get Active. Stay Involved. • SPRING 2022 49