Elizabeth’s hellebores

1 x Picotee Group Over the years, Elizabeth has established relatively stable hellebore breeding lines through her technique of hand-pollinating plants in the open ground without the risk of crossing. Of all her selections, she is proudest . 2 x yellow One of Elizabeth’s purest yellows. By back-crossing yellower forms of . odorus with . x , she has succeeded in producing some excellent yellows with red hearts and golden nectaries. 70cm. RHS H7. 3 x ‘Queen of the Night’ A rich purple-black selection. Elizabeth used some dark wild forms but her early selections used cultivated plants as parents. Eric Smith’s x ‘Pluto’ was a important parent for these. 70cm. RHS H7. 4 x white with red heart A seedling Elizabeth developed while working with Thompson & Morgan. A really clean white that contrasts beautifully with its red eye and comes reliably true from seed. 70cm. RHS H7. 5 x green with red speckles Elizabeth is adamant that a hellebore’s charm is in the moment of reveal when you turn its face. The hanging flowers also protect the pollen-laden anthers from the winter rains. 70cm. RHS H7. 6 x good red While originally many selections were created from open pollinated plants, Elizabeth spent years carefully selecting and hand pollinating to ensure uniformity within her strains. These reds were specially selected for their ability to hold their colour as they died off, giving a much longer season of interest. 70cm. RHS H7. 7 x speckled white A very reliable strain, which sings against the darkness of freshly mulched ground. Elizabeth selected flowers with strongly overlapped sepals to give a delicate cupped form and so her selections should always have as good a colour on the reverse, as this is what you see most of the time. 70cm. RHS H7. 8 A small but beautiful species with green-purple flowers, sometimes heavily veined. The often highly segmented foliage is truly deciduous. 40cm. RHS H7.