Helleborus 'Abcrd01' PENNY'S PINK hellebore, Lenten rose
Helleborus
The genus Helleborus comprises roughly twenty species of perennial plants distributed mainly across Europe and western Asia, especially in the mountainous and sub‑montane regions of the Balkans, the Alps and the Apennines. Direct fossil evidence is lacking, but genetic relationships and present‑day distribution point to a very ancient origin, probably reaching deep into the Tertiary. Hellebores were already known to classical physicians, as shown by the writings of Hippocrates and Pliny the Elder, who used them as drastic medicinal remedies. This is reflected in the Greek etymology of the name, most often interpreted as a combination of helein (to kill) and bora (a deadly food). It refers to the plant’s highly poisonous properties, valued in antiquity as powerful purgatives but easily fatal when used without expertise. The genus received its modern name and place in botany in the mid‑18th century thanks to Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778), who described it in 1753 in Species Plantarum. Hellebores are no novelty in Czech and Slovak gardens either; our grandmothers already enjoyed their flowers in winter and early spring. The only thing that has changed since then are the cultivars and colours, which are ever more numerous and increasingly beautiful. They are evergreen perennials with a remarkably structured flower. The “petals” we see at first glance, white or coloured, are in fact enlarged sepals surrounding a ring of true petals – the corolla segments, usually periwinkle green and occasionally red, which have become tubular and bear the nectaries.
PENNY’S PINK is another hybrid Lenten rose developed by Rodney Davey and Lynda Windsor from Devon, England. It belongs to the Rodney Davey Marbled Group and is currently sold with a series name Frostkiss. It was launched in 2011 and is protected by US plant patent No. PP24149 from 2013.
PENNY’S PINK hellebore bears cup-shaped, burnt pink flowers, nodding like bellflowers when young and as they mature they rise their heads to look sideways. The center is decorated with a less conspicuous yellow-green crown and a profusion of yellow stamens. The stems reach 25-35 cm in height. Blooming begins from the first frost-free days of the second half of winter, and new buds are formed for more than a month keeping the clump pretty with flowers for almost three months.
Apart from beautiful flowers, Lenten rose hybrids in the Rodney Davey Marbled Group are renowned for handsome foliage. The leaves of PENNY’S PINK are evergreen, leathery, glossy, dark green with light green marbling, and palmately divided into 3 to 5 large, broadly oval leaflets and look like leaves of rodgersias. If they are exhausted and unsightly after the growing season you can remove them just before stems with new flower buds emerge.
Hellebore likes heavy, evenly moist, neutral to alkaline, rich in humus soil in dappled shade or filtered sun. This hybrid will prefer at least half a day with direct sunlight. Fertilizing will increase flowering and help the leaves remain strong and nice throughout the winter. Grow it somewhere near your house entrance or close to the window you look out of frequently so that you can enjoy the plant when it starts flowering since at that time the weather outside is not yet ideal for walking around the garden. The flowers can cheer up a number of grey and dull days of late winter therefore thumbs up for hellebore! Harmful if eaten. Hardy to about -29 °C (USDA zone 5).
Last update 16-03-2023
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- STANDARD QUALITY - Plants of this group are 1st class quality with number of branches and overall density adequate to their size and age, considering they were container grown.
- DE LUXE QUALITY - This label guarantees a luxurious quality of manually selected plants that, compared to their height and age, are exceptionally dense and beautiful.
- EXTRA - These plants are usually mature and bigger specimens with exceptional overall appearance.
- STANDARD (as described in the plant form) means a tree with a trunk of 190-210 cm and a crown at the top, unless specified differently. The commercial size for trees is their girth measured in the height of 1m from ground.
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- GRASSES and PERENNIALS - Sizes given usually read the diameter of the pot or the clump, as specified.
