Hellebore blooms come in variety of colours including green, white, yellow, red, black, and many variations of pink and purple.  Double blooms or single, spotted or freckle-free, the best way to show off the flowers is to float them in a bowl of water.

In the garden the flower heads hang upside-down where their true beauty cannot be completely appreciated.

To propagate, divide the clumps after flowering, in early spring or late summer.  Hellebores can be grown from seed and will self-seed but do not come true to type.  With so much variety out there it’s quite fun to grow your own seedlings be surprised at what will pop up.

More information on Hellebores can be found at Hellebores.org.

For 2012 I will be featuring a different plant of the 15th of each month for Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day.  I have done more than a year of posting for #GBBD and as it’s not greatly different than in previous year’s at the same time it will allow me to show off some great blooms and favourite plants.

There are some really fascinating winter blooming plants that I have seen, like witch hazel ‘Diane‘ and white forsythia, but I wasn’t familiar with this one.  Turns out these aren’t the blooms at all but the fruit that has set seed. Regardless, the show was splendid and completely stood out in a sea of holiday green and red.

Here is some more info on it from Wikipedia:

“Euonymus europaeus grows to 3 to 6 m tall, rarely up to 10 m, with a stem up to 20 cm diameter. The leaves are opposite, and are lanceolate to elliptical, 3 to 8 cm long and 1-3 cm broad, with a finely serrated edge. In autumn they often show a beautiful bright red colour.

The hermaphrodite flowers are produced in late spring and are insect-pollinated; they are rather inconspicuous, small, yellowish green and grow in cymes of 3-8 together. The capsular fruit ripens in autumn, and is red to purple or pink in colour and approximately 1 to 1.5 cm wide. When ripe, the four lobes split open to reveal the orange seeds.

The fruit is poisonous, containing amongst other substances, the alkaloids theobromine and caffeine, as well as an extremely bitter terpene. Poisonings are more common in young children, who are enticed by the brightly-coloured fruits. Ingestion can result in liver and kidney damage and even death.”

The rest of the crocosmia is ready to be divided.  It’s easy this time of year, just grab a clump and pull to thin them out, or dig up the whole bunch and put back a quarter of them.  I like to leave some adorning the garden as the seed knobs take on interesting shapes.  In a few weeks the bulbs will turn orange and it’ll be like a second blooming. 

When I moved into my new house the following year, I went straight out and bought a passion flower along with an Italian Prune Plum tree which I also adored during my time at the rental.  To my dismay, it died that winter.  I bought another the following year and it died over winter too.  I certainly wasn’t about to try a third time (at $18 a pop) so I grieved and moved on.  Until one day a interesting plant collector traded me a Hardy Blue Passion Flower that was already more than 10 feet long!  I planted and trellised it last year and just as the plant collector assured me, it WAS hardy enough to survive!

I now have an amazing twining vine above the apple espalier arbour and ducking under the variegated butterfly bush.  I’m so happy to once again enjoy the most unique and stunning blooms.  All hail the Hardy Blue Passion Flower – I hope to someday try your fruit.

Euphorbia characias ssp. wulfenii, or Wood Spurge, is the most common of the Euphorbia found in Vancouver although there are so many other varietals available, a few of which you’ll find in most any Eastside garden.  Though considered a perennial, Euphorbia characias acts more like a shrub growing 2′-4′ tall and 2′-3′ wide. In late winter,  neon green bracts (flowers) bloom atop spiky blue-green evergreen foliage creating quite a show. The alien-like eyes and the stink should be warning enough not to go messing with this plant unprotected, but if you a dead-set on taking pruners to these monsters, be forewarned the milky sap is toxic and can burn your skin if not handled properly.  Best to observe from afar unless of course you want to get some cool close up shots.

Interestingly, I took these photos at Granville Island where I ran into some real aliens on parade.  Big Nazo liked this photo my hubby took of their Carnival Band and used it on their blog.  I’m glad they liked the photo as I really liked seeing tall one-eyed aliens, mechanical-looking machine men, and spirited green faces with no torsos.