My Lenten Rose or Hellebore – It Finally Bloomed!

The wait was worth it

I am so happy to report that this spring after years of waiting, I finally have blooms on my Lenten Rose.  This my fourth or fifth year that I have had this plant and I have never had a bloom in all that time. But I finally have two! Not just one but two….so far!  Yes, I am excited about a simple thing like this but if you garden, you will know what I mean.

This Lenten Rose or Hellebore, Helleborus orientalis, is a perennial plant which is supposed to bloom in the late winter period or very early spring. As I explained in a previous post here, I got this at one of our plant sales one year and planted it in a partly shaded area.  It was a very small plant to begin with and I had been told that I may not get blooms the first spring after planting because it might need a while to get established.

But spring after spring, I never had blooms. It was so disappointing. The photos I saw in magazines and the flowers in friend’s gardens were so pretty. But it seemed I was doomed to failure. I had a decent plant which somewhat died out over the course of the summer, but never any blooms.

I have this in a front flower garden with a lot of ajuga surrounding it. It is a place with fairly rich soil and seems slightly moist but doesn’t stand in water or anything. So I didn’t find any reason why it wouldn’t bloom.  See more from my Backyard Flower Garden.

I guess it was just stubborn.

This flower would bloom when it is good and ready. I did find a reference on Gardening Know How that said “Wait three or four years for blooms on young plants grown from seed.”  Do you think that may have been the problem? It was just too young?

I must admit, I was ready to give up on it. I even thought “Oh let’s just dig it up and put it out back somewhere. Out of sight, out of mind.”  I thought I wouldn’t fret about it. I even thought I could just toss it on to the compost pile and forget about it.

Maybe it heard me and I swear the buds have just popped in the last few weeks. I know I examined it about 10 days ago, and there was nothing. Here is the old photo that I took of it because I considered posting on Facebook and asking if anyone had any advice for me. I thought it looked bad and I should just “shovel prune” it.

Gratefully, I didn’t because as we were walking out front when my son was going home after having lunch with us, ( and I swear I didn’t invite him just to move things that day. LOL.) what do I see?  A pink bloom!  I am out there in the rain and down on the ground taking photos and , of course, my son and husband are just shaking their heads and rolling their eyes.

But I have a bloom!  And there is even a bud underneath. Two blossoms this spring. I am hoping there will be more, but right now there is nothing showing on any of the branches.

Loving my Lenten Rose. Loving my hellebore! She’s just a little bashful, I guess.  UPDATE:  In spring of 2018, I am getting buds again. Many more this time. I first noticed them on Feb 26 which is a little earlier than last year. I wonder if I can dig this up and take it with me to the new house? I will sure try!