The Christmas Rose (Helleborus niger) has just reached its peak of flowering in time for this year’s early Easter which is next weekend. I don’t know if its the way I treat it but my Christmas Rose is always very straggly and tends to hide its flowers away among its leaves, which themselves lie along the ground. As result I have to lift the flowers up with one hand while photographing them with the other. I’m thinking of putting it in a pot later in the year to see if I can improve its shape next winter. It’s ironic that while all the Easter flowering plants were out in January the Christmas Rose has only now come into its best. My other Hellebore, the Green Hellebore (Helleborus viridis )has yet to flower this year.
We have a super patch of violets under the Lilac tree, a spot where it never gets any sun the whole year round. I would love to be able to glance at a violet and tell which one it is but I have problems galore. Rarely do I manage to be sure of my identification. It does not help that my neuropathy (and smoking) have taken away most of my sense of smell. I’m fairly sure these are Sweet Violets (Viola odorata).
Also known as the Common Violet (which it is not in the North or N Wales where the Common Dog Violet – Viola riviniana - is the common species), Sweet Violet, Common Violet and Garden Violet. It does occur as a garden weed and its location in this lost corner suggests it has arrived there uninvited but nevertheless exceptionally welcome. It is commonly known as Sweet Violet, English Violet, Common Violet, or Garden Violet.
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