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Helleborus lividus 'Pink Marble', 'Elegance'

georgia-rose
17 years ago

Am looking for a US mailorder or online source for these 2 selections of Helleborus lividus. Can anyone suggest a reliable vendor? Web search did not list anyone, maybe I'm dreaming! TIA

RB

Comments (9)

  • gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
    17 years ago

    'Pink Marble' is under license to Skagit Gardens here in the NW. They are a wholesale grower and a supplier of commercial plugs to nurseries across the country, so perhaps contacting them will turn up a vendor in your area or a mail order source.

    FWIW, if you are looking for a hellebore with the characteristics of 'Pink Marble' that may be much more widely available, look for 'Ivory Prince'. It is a hybrid but with a great deal of lividus parentage and to be honest, very hard to tell apart from 'Pink Marble' just by appearances. And IP may be a more robust plant and is definitely a stronger and more prolific bloomer.

    Sorry, I am not familiar enough with 'Elegance' to comment.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Skagit Gardens

  • razorback33
    17 years ago

    Found 'Elegance' being offered by an on-line seller in WA.
    Don't know what size they are selling, but at the listed price, I would assume they are very small.
    Email me for the company name.
    Rb

  • georgia-rose
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Thanks for your responses!
    Rb - I checked the company at GWD and there were a number of comments (complaints?) about very small plants. Guess that's to be expected, for the price and their shipping method (USPS) to my state.
    I think I will give them a try, as I can't find the plant anywhere else.
    Gardengal48 - Thanks for the lead (Skagit) on 'Pink Marble', but they require a huge order for direct shipment cross country. They have a broker somewhere in the SE, that I may try later.
    RB

  • georgia-rose
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Ordered some of the H. lividus "Elegance', and glad I did!
    As expected, they were in 4" sleeves, but very healthy plants, in bloom and filled with buds. Potted them up to grow on and so I can bring indoors if temperatures become too cold for this tender species. Thanks Rb!

    gardengal48...I have grown IP for a couple of years and am really impressed with them. So are garden visitors that see them. Unfortunately, the local nursery, where purchased, did not restock them this year. I had an extra one in a pot, that didn't get planted and it was traded for a H. x sternii with very attractive patterned foliage.
    BTW.. Read your article in a recent issue of FG. I also dabble with S American natives, with variable success. My climate forces most of then indoors during during the winter.
    Thanks again!
    RB

  • gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
    17 years ago

    georgia-rose, I attended a 40th anniversary celebration for Skagit Gardens last week and returned home with a quart size 'Pink Marble' that was a table decoration (Skagit is one of my primary wholesale vendors and it helps to have an "in"!!). It is a cute little plant in full bloom but IMO, doesn't hold a candle to 'Ivory Prince' with respect to appearance. Nevertheless, I will add it to my collection of hellebores, but it's going into an early season, mixed container planting first.

  • georgia-rose
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Gardengal48.....
    Thanks for the update and the comparison of PM & IP. Lucky you! Being so close to Skagit Gardens.
    Since I am pleased with the 'Elegance' and 'Ivory Prince', I will probably forget about PM, unless, of course, I find it on a local vendor's sale table!
    I hope to use 'Elegance' & niger 'Potter's Wheel' to produce x Ballardiae for my Helleborus collection, now totalling 15 species, including seedlings of dumetorum,cyclophyllus & bocconei(proposed species, seperated from multifidus).
    Recently received an promo from Terra Nova that they are now producing some selections of x hybridus, including doubles and a yellow-flowered one. Hope the color is better than my yellows!
    On my way to the Philadelphia Flower Show to host an educational display until the weekend(10th year for me). Burpeewood has a display there, but don't expect to see anything new in Helleborus.
    RB

  • gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
    17 years ago

    Interesting that you should bring up Burpeewood (that's my name for it, too!!) - Heronswood, under the guidance of Dan Hinkley, had an intensive hellebore breeding program that only recently has come to fruition (since Burpees moved into the picture). BPW is now promoting their clonal forms (TC'd) of 4 different hellebores, 3 x hybridus and a nigercors. Another local vendor has the TC license (since it has the TC labs) and my nursery (and a couple others) helped to promote them here last month at the NW Flower & Garden show. 2 of the hybridus are very appealing: a raspberry red double ('Kingston Cardinal') and a single butter yellow with heavy maroon spotting ('Goldfinch'). I'd expect you'll see them at the Philadelphia show.

    This same vendor also carries a full line of unnamed, uncloned Heronswood x hybridus and my sales rep recently gifted me with a gorgeous butter yellow double. I am planning on doing a small grouping of the three of these - the raspberry double, the yellow double and the single that combines both colors! I am just a lover and grower of hellebores myself - no breeding going on here unless nature takes charge of it:-)

  • georgia-rose
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Gardengal48....
    You are positively psychic! The only plants they were offering at their vendors booth, were the "Clonal-4" Helleborus!
    They were offering show prices and with an additional PHS member discount, they were quite reasonable for retail pricing. They don't offer wholesale pricing, I was informed by a friendly, young, (and fairly new) employee from Kingston.
    For a welcome change, there were a large number of Helleborus featured in the landscape displays this year, including many 'IP's', probably due in large measure to the show's theme, "Legend's of Ireland". As usual, few were entered into competition, as they seldom win any ribbons. Flower Show Judges tend to ignore the merits of a plant with downward facing flowers! You would think that some of the species with outward facing flowers would be entered, but I suppose there aren't that many Hellebore aficionado's
    about the area.
    Glad to be home from the frozen North! and the Snow!
    Cheers!
    RB

  • rain1950
    14 years ago

    Seems every year; some small grower's plants show up in large discounters. I picked up a white double hybrid and an orientalis at Fred Meyer ($8 for 1 gal container) Only ID on tag is Iwasaki Bros. 2555 SE Minter Bridge Rd, Hillsboro, OR 97123

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