April Garden Blogger's Bloom Day

I was out of town last weekend and returned to a landscape of swollen buds on all the spring flowering trees. Today, while I was learning about insect scatology, temperatures of over 80 degrees and a warm, constant wind, coaxed the ornamental pears (Pyrus calleryana ‘Chanticleer’) into full bloom. A rapid change in weather is supposed to bring snow tomorrow---ahh, springtime in Colorado!

Last month I completely forgot that this is the season for one of my favorites--hellebores. This genus of plants is native to lime soils in Europe and Asia. Lime increases the pH of soil and we have high pH soils, so I suppose that is why they thrive here. I have several different species--all of which are in "bloom" now. Hellebores are members of the buttercup family which makes sense when you look at the flowers.Lenten Rose (Helleborus orientalis), shown below in the next two photos, starts blooming in March. Honey bees love it--they co-evolved in their native Europe and hellebores bloom at a time when fewer species are blooming.




The next species, Helleborus foetidus, sometimes called Stinking Hellebore (though I have never noticed an odor) or Bear's Claw is a fantastic plant. This plant is a truly xeric plant for me in shade and where it grows in near full sun, does happily with over spray from the lawn sprinkler. It is evergreen, has a wonderful palmate leaf , and a chartreuse panicle of flowers. It's not long lived, but reseeds readily--not obnoxiously--so it will multiply if you leave the seedheads long enough to allow reseeding.