Viewing comments posted by tantefrancine

I just read this article by Leah Zerbe from Yahoo.

My own experience, why I do not like it:
I used to have 1 plant, then I realized that I had 3 more. I decided I did not like it. I dug them all out, and later on I found 2 more, and I also took them out. I planted mine in full sun and it grew very fast. The article above makes sense to me.

I love Hellebores, also called Lenten rose, Christmas rose. They do not have anything to do with roses, not even distantly related. I love them, because I do not have to worry that squirrels move them and transfer them to my neighbors' gardens, they do not need watering, only right after planting them in good soil, until they are well established. They are indeed, all parts of them, poisonous, so cats and dogs do not come near them, never leaving their 'gifts and perfume' near them. Their leaves also do not encourage anyone to touch them, their edges are armed with shallow teeth. Even deer stay away from them. They bloom profusely, depending on the weather, sometimes around Christmas, very often around Lent. I just found out from an article that I read somewhere, maybe in the Express that I picked up at the Metro Station, that it was time to prune the leaves off. --Oh, no, I had never done that. Good idea, so yesterday I cut off all the leaves and stem, cut them as close to the ground as possible. So now the blossoms, still buds, are all exposed, and I am waiting for them to open, finally fully exposed. I should have known it, because the leaves are mostly lying flat on the ground, making it easy to find the end of the stems close to the ground. This way I also can see where little plants have sprout up, so I can easily dig them and plant them somewhere else or share with friends. Never too late to learn something new.