The Helleborus argutifolius flower buds are dead. The Corsican hellebore is a stem flowering species of hellebore. Which means that this year's flower buds develop on the tip of last year's stems. It is an evergreen species with the above ground growth only hardy to zone 7. The rootstock is Chicago hardy, so we are never in danger of losing the plant, just its flowers. We have had this Corsican hellebore for about seven years, but it has only bloomed once in 2002.

To protect the flowers I build a hellebore house around the stems in December. I've tried varous covering materials from compost to sand to branches to rocks to leaves. The successful hellebore house in 2002 was basically a pile of compost covered with spruce branches. That same design proved disastrous last year as the the stems rotted and voles moved inside to feast on all the companion bulbs.

This year I decided to try a new technique. There were seven stems with flower buds. I wrapped burlap around six of the stems in two groups of three. One branch was left exposed as a control. Juniper branches were placed under, around, and over the wrapped branches. The idea was to use the burlap to protect the stems from excess moisture so they would not rot. The surrounding branches were to coccoon the buds and protect them found the worst of the cold and wind. Using all prickly juniper branches instead of compost was to discourage vole habitation.

When I arrived at the garden, I noticed that the control stem didn't fair well. The buds were dead. They were brown, soft, and even appeared to have been nibbled by a rabbit. No matter. This just proved what I already knew: you can't leave Corsican hellebore unprotected in Chicago if you want flowers. No big deal, because I still had six protected stems with fat buds. Since it was a warm day, I decided to check and see how my brilliant strategy had worked.

Failure!!

As I removed the juniper branches I was excited not to see vole holes or stem rot. But when I unwrapped the burlap, the plant was blasted! I don't understand it. The stems and even some of the leaves made it. But all of the buds were soft and limp. I felt each bud several times hoping to feel something firm and vital that would surprise me in April. No luck.

I don't know what happened. Maybe the string of negative days was too cold. Maybe the buds began developing in the warmth of early January and were stunned by the intense cold of late January/early February. Maybe I'm crazy to expect a zone 7 plant to survive Chicago winters. Oh well, back to the drawing board. (This does not fiill me wiith hope for my precious Hellebours lividus.)