Hellebore Galore WRITER Jayla Breanne Parker
During the cold months, your garden may be lacking those eye-catching summer blooms like geraniums and black-eyed Susans. The crisp and colorful leaves of autumn have fallen, leaving much to be desired of the landscape. However, there are still some beautiful blooms to behold during winter. Meet hellebore: a plucky and resilient evergreen perennial that steals the show as temperatures drop. Hellebore belongs to the Buttercup family, which also includes delphiniums and anemones. They bloom around December or January and carry on well into spring, adding winter beauty to both your garden and the forest floors they’re found on in the wild. There are an abundance of different varieties of hellebores bred from wild Lenten Roses. Hellebores bear the name Lenten Roses because they bloom around Lent. Lenten Roses have a rich history. Even its name carries some aged wisdom. The name ‘Hellebore’ has been said to translate from Greek to “kill food,” which refers to its toxic and medicinal properties. In Greek mythology, Hellebores were thought to be a cure for madness, a potent diuretic and was thought to be the culprit behind the First Sacred War in 585 BC, resulting in the residents of Kirrha being rendered defenseless against attack. In the 1500s, Lenten Roses were well sought out in remedying issues of the mind and gut. North American native breeds of hellebores were sparse, and foreign breeds were likely introduced as more people arrived from Europe. In the 1700s, a well known botanist
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