Oriental hellebores

Ordered a few weeks ago, five new oriental hellebores (Helleborus orientalis) arrived today, and have been potted up. It's howling a gale outside (winds up to 35mph, in the shelter of the vegetable garden), so we didn't loiter. Well, we loitered long enough to sow two more pots of beetroot ('Cylindra') while in the porch.

The Christmas rose hellebores (H. niger), including those we recently bought in Ludlow, are looking good at the moment, although the small ones we bought two years ago are still growing. They're slow, though, and therefore expensive, which is why increasing our own from seed and divisions is so attractive.

I saw something for the wishlist while reading a magazine over breakfast: Dierama, or Angel's Fishing Rod.

Dierama pulcherrimum (image by Ghislain118 (AD), hosted on Wikimedia Commons)