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How 'Blue' is Helleborus 'Metallic Blue'?

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Hankeat  Send Hankeat a private message!




Posted on Wednesday, March 12, 2008 - 01:55 am EST :   Last Buddysize PhotosCopy highlighted text to new message Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

I would like to have a second helleborus and the helleborus 'Metallic Blue' is quite ideal for me. As I already have a deep red one (photo below), I'm afraid that they've the same or almost the same colour. Now a day most photos in catalog are modified with computer. It's difficult to tell it's real colour. I hope to have advice from someone with 'live' experience.

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Hankeat - Berlin, Zone "7a"
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Kaguyahime  Send Kaguyahime a private message!




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Posted on Wednesday, March 12, 2008 - 05:01 pm EST :   Last Buddysize PhotosCopy highlighted text to new message Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

Hi, loose from editing photos there are very good Metallic blue toned hellebores around. I even would say many photos dont even do them justice!

Kaguyahime - Vlaanderen, Zone "8"
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Gardenfiend  Send Gardenfiend a private message!



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Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 04:08 am EST :   Last Buddysize PhotosCopy highlighted text to new message Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

Hi again from Berlin, Han. Do you visit the Staudenbörse at the Botanical Gardens? This spring it will be on 6th April. It's late for hellebores but there are usually some available. The best tend to disappear very quickly so it pays to get there early. With any luck someone will be offering metallic blue ones and you can choose a shade you like rather than having to rely on photos.

Gardenfiend - Germany, Zone "7a"
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Hankeat  Send Hankeat a private message!




Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 04:17 am EST :   Last Buddysize PhotosCopy highlighted text to new message Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

Thanks for the tips, Mara. I found a photo from a German forum. It's beautiful. I think the photo is reliable.

http://forum.garten-pur.de/attachments/H.o.MetallicBlue.JPG

Hankeat - Berlin, Zone "7a"
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Addict  Send Addict a private message!




Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 07:12 am EST :   Last Buddysize PhotosCopy highlighted text to new message Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

I think you are being confused by marketing hype.
There is no recognised colour as "metallic blue"
Hellebores cannot be blue as they do not have the pigment.Similarly metallic is a description not used by main breeders.
I believe what you are looking at is known by breeders a slaty grey or a "black" with a slaty sheen.
These 2 photos show slaty blue and slaty red colours and I can assure you they are genuine undoctored photos
Hope this helps.






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addict Staffordshire zone 8(just) UK
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Karma  Send Karma a private message!



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Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 09:34 am EST :   Last Buddysize PhotosCopy highlighted text to new message Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

Addict, you just stopped my heart with those photos, WOW!! Some day! I know I need to give up a few habits to start this one.

Karma - PNW, Zone "Z-Denial "
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Gardenfiend  Send Gardenfiend a private message!



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Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 02:12 pm EST :   Last Buddysize PhotosCopy highlighted text to new message Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

Han, I don't know who posted that photo, but if you've been following the loooong Helleborus thread there, you'll have read that everyone who bought a Metallic Blue (from Poetschke or elsewhere) got a different plant. Some were reasonably "blue", some were dark reddish black, one was pink, I think.

Gardenfiend - Germany, Zone "7a"
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Hankeat  Send Hankeat a private message!




Posted on Friday, March 14, 2008 - 03:38 am EST :   Last Buddysize PhotosCopy highlighted text to new message Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

Addict, thanks for the photos. The black one is amazing. Mara, I didn't read through the whole thread. It's tooo long. Thanks for letting me know. I intended to buy from Poetschke. Now? I put aside the idea first.

Hankeat - Berlin, Zone "7a"
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Matthias  Send Matthias a private message!

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Posted on Friday, March 14, 2008 - 05:13 am EST :   Last Buddysize PhotosCopy highlighted text to new message Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

Hankeat wrote on Friday, March 14, 2008 - 03:38 am:

Now?



... e.g. order seeds from Ashwood: you will need some patience but you will get what you expect.

Matthias - South Germany, Zone "7"
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Gardenfiend  Send Gardenfiend a private message!



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Posted on Friday, March 14, 2008 - 05:40 am EST :   Last Buddysize PhotosCopy highlighted text to new message Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

I know I'll make enemies among the hellebore breeders here, but if you want a good, reliable black hellebore, you could order this one:

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From http://alpine-peters.de/shop/

It has been vegetatively propagated so the plants are virtually identical. And they are very attractive, very black (foliage is dark, too) and healthy. I know other people who also have it, and all are pleased with it. However mine doesn't flower at the times stated on the site. In fact it is one of the last hellebores to flower in my garden.

Gardenfiend - Germany, Zone "7a"
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Matthias  Send Matthias a private message!

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Posted on Friday, March 14, 2008 - 06:27 am EST :   Last Buddysize PhotosCopy highlighted text to new message Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

Gardenfiend wrote on Friday, March 14, 2008 - 05:40 am:

I know I'll make enemies ... here ...



Certainly not, but, Mara, you and others may have been lucky. I ordered and received a "yellow" double three years ago, received a tiny srap which has neither increased in size nor flowered yet ...

I understand Heuger does micropropping, but please do correct me if you know better. Their H. niger "Joseph Lemper" is fantastic though, at least the specimen I bought at a local garden center.

Matthias - South Germany, Zone "7"
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Gardenfiend  Send Gardenfiend a private message!



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Posted on Friday, March 14, 2008 - 07:01 am EST :   Last Buddysize PhotosCopy highlighted text to new message Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

Matthias, as I understand it, and as J.P. explained it to me once, the HGC Gold Collection plants are micro-propagated, while others he offers are cloned by division (I believe). Possibly your yellow double belongs to the second category? I also have had no luck with those I've ordered in the past - and no longer attempt to grow them. But the Heuger plants I have (niger 'Josef Lemper', ericsmithii 'Silvermoon', nigercors 'Green Corsican' as well as 'Merlin') are excellent plants.

Gardenfiend - Germany, Zone "7a"
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Galanthophile  Send Galanthophile a private message!



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Posted on Friday, March 14, 2008 - 11:35 am EST :   Last Buddysize PhotosCopy highlighted text to new message Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

If I ever buy a another hellebore (and I am sure I will..) I will buy one that I have seen in flower then I will know exactly what I am getting.

Galanthophile - Ann (Northern England), Zone "8"
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Posted on Friday, March 14, 2008 - 12:05 pm EST :   Last Buddysize PhotosCopy highlighted text to new message Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

Yes, I also grow ericsmithii 'Silvermoon' and I can confirm that it is an excellent plant - highly recommendable! Whenever I get some time ... I will take photos of my specimen in the garden.

Very true Ann, but some of us live in corners of this world, where the best (if anything) you can buy at local or regional garden centers or nurseries are ordinary niger or muddy dark brown H. x hybridus. Many "professionals" never seem to read gardening magazines or have a look at what in going on in the world of plants. I was very lucky and grateful last year when Mike (addict) bought a few plants for me at Ashwood's and I could bring them home after my visit to the UK later in the year.

Matthias - South Germany, Zone "7"
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Gardenfiend  Send Gardenfiend a private message!



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Posted on Friday, March 14, 2008 - 01:19 pm EST :   Last Buddysize PhotosCopy highlighted text to new message Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

I find it impossible to take a decent photo of my Merlin. This is my latest effort, today. It's pretty awful - and I confess I did rather a lot of reworking to make the photo match its appearance in real life:

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It hasn't got the nice round shape of the one on the nursery site and is nothing like as beautiful as Addict's. But it is very black!

Matthias, how long have you had 'Silvermoon'? This one is three years old:

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A detail that shows just how packed with blooms it is.

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Gardenfiend - Germany, Zone "7a"
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Bruce  Send Bruce a private message!



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Posted on Friday, March 14, 2008 - 05:17 pm EST :   Last Buddysize PhotosCopy highlighted text to new message Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

That is a very nice hellebore Mara!
Interesting post that has become a little off topic. TC.
Tim a few years ago had emailed me about the TC hellebore hitting the markets...Tim's prediction has arrived.
I do not view TC as good or bad, it will provide many gardeners with high quality hellebores. In the USA Pine Knot has offered very reasonable priced TC hellebores.
http://www.pineknotfarms.com/new-retail-6.html
As for me, I will continue to hybridize just for the surprise and expectations....for some though, these TC clones offer an opportunity to purchase a hellebore that should meet their description.

Bruce - New Hampshire, Zone " USA, USDA zone 5"
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Galanthophile  Send Galanthophile a private message!



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Posted on Saturday, March 15, 2008 - 10:09 am EST :   Last Buddysize PhotosCopy highlighted text to new message Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

Too true about the luxury of buying good hellebores in person. That is the ideal of course!

Galanthophile - Ann (Northern England), Zone "8"
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Hankeat  Send Hankeat a private message!




Posted on Sunday, March 16, 2008 - 02:15 am EST :   Last Buddysize PhotosCopy highlighted text to new message Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

Mara, thanks for those wonderful photos. A real beauty can be known only through recommendation. Matthias, now a day those poor plants in garden centers are produced just to satisfy our buying and throwing away society. I feel sorry for them.

Hankeat - Berlin, Zone "7a"
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Polly_poppy  Send Polly_poppy a private message!




Posted on Wednesday, March 19, 2008 - 06:35 pm EST :   Last Buddysize PhotosCopy highlighted text to new message Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

Hi Han
Here is a pic of my "black" hellebore, Harvington Shades of the Night hybrid. It has a metallic sheen and is one of my favourites.


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Polly poppy Glasgow UK
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Hankeat  Send Hankeat a private message!




Posted on Monday, March 24, 2008 - 07:47 am EST :   Last Buddysize PhotosCopy highlighted text to new message Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

Pauline, thanks for the photo. It's a beautiful plant. It's hard for me to decide, as most of them are beautiful and I can only have one (or two).

I've limited space, so I've to decide whether to have helleborus or peony. One disadvantage of helleborus is the colour of flower is dull. (correct me please, if I'm wrong, as I've not much experience with this plant)

Hankeat - Berlin, Zone "7a"

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