Helleborus hybrid, the first one I managed not to kill.
Oh wow, suddenly a hint of yellow where none should have been: Helleborus orientalis/ caucasicus. From wild-collected seed obtained from British Botanist Will McLewin.
And this beauty, also so unexpected. Grown from seed obtained from a seed exchange, I knew it was from a yellow-flowered parent but wasn't really expecting a yellow flower due to the promiscuity of Hellebores. In bud, and for the first day when opened, it was more pale green than yellow; a nice surprise the second morning. Yellow intensifying for a few days now.
Grown from seed from deep red to black parents. Very very dark in bud.
Grown from seed from Apricot/ Peach flowered parents. Three are flowering now, and they are probably not up to their mom's quality. They're all quickly going towards green. Obviously one needs to grow a lot of seedlings of good parentage to get a really special plant in that colour shade.
Daphne mezereum, February Daphne, a very fragrant flowering shrub.
A small seedling of a white form. The fragrance is more lemony than the normal form.
Primula denticulata, the Drumstick Primula.
The crocuses in the sunny sand bed are about done (but some in lawns with a bit of shade are still going strong)
Chionodoxa sardensis, a species of Glory in the Snow. A superb blue (even under the shadow of my head)
Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara), a very pretty and bright weed. Unfortunately the leafs, which emerge later, a large and smothering.
Hepatica nobilis, a blue strain.
Hepatica acutiloba, a native of eastern Canada. There is some colour variation in this species, into pale pink and pale violet-blue.
