Helleborus x orientalis 'Frilly Isabelle', Helleborus orientalis "Madame Lemonnier" & Galanthus "Trymming"

Helleborus  x  orientalis 'Frilly Isabelle'

The greatest drawback with hellebores is their drooping habit. When I purchased  'Frilly Isabelle' it was on a display stand and its bad habit was not so obvious. I also liked the name. The latter is no recipe for parting with money though I have seen snowdrops sold for large figures on the basis of little more than an affecting name. So I have planted "Frilly Isabelle" in a pot high on a shelf from which to admire the delicate beauty.

Helleborus orientalis "Madame Lemonnier"

"Madame Lemonnier" has large flowers that make an impact with the rich colour of a good wine. She is more full on, literally and figuratively, than her frilly cousin but she always smiles at you. As befits her name, "Madame Lemonnier" originates from a specialist breeder in Normandy, France, an unlikely sport of H. x hybridus and H. niger.

Galanthus "Trymming"

Galanthus "Trymming" is singularly striking as it just begins to unfurl its pagoda shaped petals with the mandatory flash of green on white, its solitary flower still the same as last year. It is though one of the more attainable derivatives of "Trym".  Alan Street of the Chelsea Gold Medal winning Avon Bulbs explains it can have two scapes if well grown. By that measure, mine is not.