This diminutive hellebore has the charm of a native hepatica or anemone. Most cultivated hellebore are coarser plants, but apparently European woodlands and hillsides have wildflowers too. Like most hellebores, H. multifidus increases in size every year and produces better displays with age.
This deciduous species does not begin to emerge until late winter, so unlike H. niger cultivars or some other precocious hybrids it won't get blasted by hard cold snaps. It literally comes out of the ground blooming. As the stems elongate the upfacing flowers flip and begin to nod. By early spring it makes a nice mound of foliage adorned with ivory green bells.
Other great hellebores of 2008 include Spotted Lady, Ivory Prince, and a purple flowered cultivar at the old Science Center in Spartanburg.
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