Shawn and I first encountered an expanse of Hellebores in a public garden in Greensboro where a massive colony of plants occupied a heavily wooded and nearly full-shade location. Our back gardens had similar opportunities for plants content in such a position, and we noted the possibility. We planned to keep our eyes open for a hellebore to cart home and adopt.
And that’s how it started.
We found a hellebore at the farmer’s market. Then another. And Another. And we were in love with this plant. Though I must remember to water the hellebores in the hot days of July and August the plants have required little else. From the original plantings we have a nice display in the section of our garden we call Evergreen Corner. Between two large rhododendrons our hellebores have made themselves at home.
Gardens and garden shops represent our favorite dating venues. Where else can we walk in the quiet, take in the benefit of someone else’s gardening work, and find myriad reasons to praise the Creator for what He has wrought around us? I keep my ears and eyes open to find new garden targets to surprise Shawn.
Before the pandemic I had learned about Pine Knot Farms in Virginia, an excellent source for hellebores. The owners open the farm for a couple of weekends in the spring and fall for visitors to come on site and purchase plants directly. Other than those open house weekends the business is mail order. I planned a trip and asked Shawn on a date.
We had to cancel as COVID-19 lock-downs and closings spread rapidly.
I sensed Shawn’s disappointment at our canceled trip. We sat together to browse the web site and picked three hellebores to add to our collection. Our new arrivals wowed us — healthy plants, great root structure, and the promise of something special in coming months.
Those plants did not and do not disappoint, and did I mention that they bloom in winter? By adding hellebores to our plantings we have achieved our goal of having something in bloom at Paths of Hope year-round. And I do have a ball exploring the gardens to see which plants are on stage at any given moment.
Fast forward with me to spring 2023. The pandemic restrictions are gone, and life is slowly returning to normal. I learned that Pine Knot Farms planned to hold their open house, and once again, I invited my lovely bride to join me for a garden road trip on opening day. She packed a picnic lunch, and we set out early on a frosty Saturday morning.
With Apple Maps prominently displayed on the dash screen we meandered our way east and north on roads that dropped in width and gained in curvature with each mile. The app adamantly informed us that we had arrived at our destination though I saw only a couple of mail boxes, nothing that resembled a garden shop or a nursery or a farm. A tiny sign beside the road confirmed Apple’s insistence that we had arrived at the correct rural address, though, and I noted the dirt track heading into the woods.
It was one of those roads like I traveled so frequently in childhood where one must squeeze over or even backup when encountering a vehicle heading in the opposite direction. The road had been freshly topped with a generous load of crusher run, and Clifford, my red Toyota truck, forged ahead. He seemed eager to have his wheels in mud after miles on asphalt and concrete. If nothing else came of our journey we had a belly-laugh over our ride up that road, and I had to share this video.
I can testify that the Pine Knot Farms open house ought to be high on the list for serious gardeners. I met a hellebore collector from Pennsylvania who shared that her northern garden contains many hellebores, and they thrive in her cold winters. I talked with another gardener from Fayetteville to our south who shared that the plants do well in her sandy garden even with high summer temperatures. Zowie!
I love to catch the faces of the other men at the garden shop where most customers are ladies. I guess for some men toting her plant picks in that cardboard box matches up to holding the purse while the lady dress shops? Scowls. Frowns. Frequent watch-checking. What a delight to catch a man browsing from table to table like a giant butterfly. He was immersed in the moment, and when I asked about one of his hellebore choices he happily pointed out the covert location across the way where I might find such a specimen. With three strides and my long arms I snagged one for Shawn.
Another guy, his face aglow, carried his wife’s picks as though the plants were tiny babies. This was not a garden shop visit geared for children necessarily, but I witnessed one girl, maybe eight-years-old, whose face had the vantage point as she walked among the tables. Hellebore blooms tend to hang down from an adult perspective, but that child saw the flowers in full glory from her angle. More than once I heard her voice above the muted tones, “Mommy! Mommy! Look at this one!”
Shawn made the rounds once at normal speed then a second time at a slower pace as she gleaned her new plants from the vast selection. And then I urged her to make a third pass while I protected her botanical booty from prospective plant pirates. She left Pine Knot Farms satisfied with her additions to our hellebore collection, and I left with the warm-fuzzy knowledge that investing in our garden doubles as an investment in our marriage.
All-in-all it was a great date.
Learn more about hellebores by visiting the Plant Parade page on this site: Hellebore aka Lenten Rose
