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World Class Breeder Creates Masterpieces with Exquisite
Beauty
Out of the Eugene, Oregon garden of Marietta O’Byme comes a
spectacular series of Lenten Roses, Hellebores.
These delights offer huge flowers with rich colors and
superb form, along with being vigorous growers with profuse
blooming. An exceptional characteristic of these
varieties is that they retain their color and petals after
the flowers have set seed. The dried flowers last for
months, extending the interest well beyond the initial
bloom.
Hellebores
are easy to grow, shade loving perennials.
In
her quest for the perfect double near-black hellebore,
Marietta O'Byrne conceived the pristine selection
'Onyx Odyssey' Lenten Rose.
The very large 3", fully double flowers are slate purple to
near-black and have 15-20 petals per flower, giving them a
very full, fluffy appearance. They are downward facing like
most hellebores. Once the flowers set seed, the petals
retain much of their coloration and remain on the flower,
surrounding the swelling seed pod, extending the interest
long past the initial bloom time. The new foliage of this
deep purple-black flowering selection is purple when it
emerges in early spring before it matures into a lovely
shade of green.
‘Peppermint Ice’ Lenten Rose,
Helleborus
has very large 3 inch+, lotus-like, cup-shaped blossoms that
are soft to medium pink with varying degrees of peppermint
veining and a picotee edge. Flowers also have colorful
red-veined backs.
 Marietta
has spent over 15 years pursuing her passion for Hellebores,
meticulously selecting and hand-crossing only the best stock
plants which she has gathered from around the world.
Remaining true to her German heritage, Marietta is very
precise in her methods, keeping detailed breeding records
and exact labels on all of her crosses, and maintaining
excellent cultural practices. Her goal is to develop
true color strains of Hellebores which are strong growers
and produce large 2-3inch diameter flowers with a rounded
form. Only the most bountiful bloomers make the cut in
Marietta's breeding work.
 'Golden
Lotus' Lenten Rose, Helleborus is
one
of the rarest members of the series. Marietta O’Byrne has
achieved perfection in this double yellow strain. Large
2-3½ inch, fully double flowers have 15-20 petals per
flower, giving them a very full, fluffy appearance. They
range from pale to lemon yellow and some are marked with
beautiful burgundy red speckling, shading, or picotee edges.
The backs of the petals may also be shaded with burgundy,
which is a lovely touch for these downward facing blossoms.
The Golden Lotus strain is exceptionally vigorous and grows
much like ‘Cherry Blossom’, a pink member of the series.
It is absolutely breathtaking when grown in combination with
the O’Byrne’s other double hellebores ‘Peppermint Ice’ and
‘Onyx Odyssey’.
GOOD COMPANIONS FOR LENTEN ROSE
Ostrich Ferns, Foam Flowers,
Tiarella,
Coralbells,
Heuchera,
Lamium,
Fairy Candles,
Cimicifuga,
and Bishop’s Hat,
Epimedium.
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