Happy Valentine's Day, Hellebores for GBBD! February 14, 2015

This is wishing you a Happy Valentine's Day!   I hope you can spend time with someone you love.  To commemorate, I wrote a poem inspired by a lucky find in a grocery store-

The watermelon was warm as he lay on his side,
Dreamily wishing to go for a ride.
Visions of wheels swirled through his head,
Spokes and chains, and onward he sped,
Pedaling madly his bike up a slope,
Then speeding down fast as a melon could hope.
A mystical weevil deduced his wild dreams,
And burrowing in she gave form to his schemes.
So happily I discovered this art,
Envisioned by someone with a very sweet heart.

I went out to see how my Hellebores were doing, my earliest spring bloomers, and was surprised to find some flowers.  My 14 year old white to pink to purple down-facing Hellebores were doing great, they not only survive but also freely self-sow into various shades of white, pink, and  purple with splotches-

Their one fault is that the blossoms face downward, making it hard to photograph them, so I had to prop them up.

But I went overboard the last couple of years buying some new Hellebores with fantastic silver-accented foliage, and white, green, and/or pink flowers that faced more outward,  like White and Pink Marble, Helleborus lividus.  Then there were some hybrids of Helleborus orientalis, like Winter Moonbeam, delightful to behold, green and pink tints, and also wonderful outward-facing flowers.

Pretty, huh?   I searched for them now in the garden, and was only able to find one survivor,

 So I looked them up and found out why.   Some are only hardy from zones 8-10, and plants are only hardy at my house in zones 5-7.   Don't you just hate it when nurseries sell plants that are not hardy in your area and you fail to look them up to find out first?   Pet peeve.  Some of them should have been hardy but disappeared as well, disappointing.  But I still want to get a double Hellebore, I hope they are tougher.

But I also bought 2 hybrids from the Winter Jewel line, big plants with droopy flowers more like my original Hellebores, which are doing great, Apricot Blush-

and Cherry  Blossom, which was developed to have colorful nectaries-

So it seems I can have blooms in mid-winter, thanks to the Hellebores.  I also noticed the beginning of the Vinca blooms, and Muscari and Daffodils about to break buds.  To see what else is blooming in many gardens, check out Garden Blogger's Bloom Day at May Dreams Gardens hosted by Carol.

Today I am also linking with-

Wild Bird Wednesday hosted by Stewart M

Today's Flowers hosted by Denise

Saturday's Critters hosted by Eileen

Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma and Mystical Magical Teacher

I Heart Macro hosted by Laura

"I never promised you a rose garden"-

Hannah   ©Weeding on the Wild Side, all rights reserved.  I enjoy visiting your blogs and commenting, but if google+ is the only option I can't do so, but can comment here.

I was given a marvelous Valentine by some who never lets me down- Whispering Hope