How old are these plants? Until they bloom at 2-3 years of age, you do not know if they are doubles. I'd be very interested to see a follow up to this post. Were you happy with the flat? How big were the plants? My guess is that they were a year at the very most...I have one year old plants I grew from seeds from Elizabeth Town that would not fit into 2" pots. And the ultimate question, when they bloom are they really doubles?

Hi Claysoil
I would like to amend my original post. These are young plants of unknown bloom that may have doubles in the mix, but certainly will be different colors. I think the attraction is for someone who doesn't grow from seed, to be able to buy plants for $3 a piece vs. $13 to $20 in my local area. In my experience, a good organic soil can at least double the size of a clump in one year so the fact that they are small is not that great a concern to me. I'll post back when I've unpacked them.

Ah, saying that there may be doubles makes more sense. I do understand buying a lot of young plants at a low price. I'm still guessing that it will be 2 years at least until yours bloom, which is one year more than from seed. If you do well with these babies, you should give seeds a go. Pine Knot sold 50 seeds for 5$ for plants that sound like what you are describing. It's an extra year, but a lot cheaper. I just dumped my packets into large flower pots, buried them in layers of leaves, and left them outside. In 3 years we should compare what kind of flowers we have!

I'm just not set up for seeds. I would love to try seed starting and I'm intrigued by winter-sowing but haven't gotten around to it yet. I thought we'd have a lull in the really cold weather we've had for weeks and weeks - which would have let me at least finish cleaning in the garden. But at 20 during the day, its just too darn cold. It's so cold I haven't wrapped any shrubs and haven't sprayed my Mtn Laurel against the deer and haven't done any mulching.

Anyhow - the flat of hellebores was great. They have an average of 5 leaves each and seem sturdy and healthy. Many are just now putting out additional new growth. Barry included a bottle of B-1 root stimulator that will last me a long time - its 1 tsp per quart of water. I'm sure they are this past winter/spring's seedlings - maybe they are up to a year old. They are larger and stronger than the first seedling I've gotten off my other 3 yr old plants.
We are satisfied with what we bought - for what it is, it was a good deal.