Nothing can be said to be certain, except Death and Taxes – Benjamin Franklin

Certainties of Spring

In the whirlwind that was the NW Flower and Garden Show, most of the early Spring has slipped by, but I did take the time to enjoy the Hellebores as they came out of their winter slumber. In my former garden in Seattle, I had several clumps; one passed on from the old-guard of horticultural enthusiasts remains vigorous and disease free, but a newer one was disease-ridden, until I gave it the hori-hori coup-de-grâce.

Now I closely examine each stem for the horror known as Hellebore Black Death, a distinctly different affliction from our ordinary spotty Botrytis affliction. Hellebore Black Death, also known as Hellebore net necrosis virus, is noted by the streaky look along the stems and leaves, as well as its overall stunted growth. It’s not the fuzzy fungal moldy look of Botrytis controlled by general hygiene and improved ventilation that comes with cleaning up your old Hellebore leaves, but a more disturbing decay that is only cured with immediate removal to the trash (and not the compost or yard waste bin.)

Whew, let’s wipe that image from our minds with these double hellebores from the Miller Garden:

Taxes, or Taxonomy?

Heronswood Gardens opened for the visiting season in early March, and I enjoyed Dan Hinkley’s talk about the difference between caulescent and acaulescent hellebores. You remember your medieval Latin, right? A caulescent Hellebore is one on which the flower is borne on a stem – think Cauliflower – edible flowers on the stem of a cabbage.

These stemmed hellebores include Helleborus x ericsmithii and Helleborus foetidus and you should prune these stems to the ground right AFTER flowering. The rest of the hellebores should have their tattered leaves pruned right BEFORE flowering.

But what do plants have to do with Taxes?

By mid-April, I’m setting up my container installation schedule to span the six short weeks of true spring, before school gets out and my garden travel season starts. And what’s better than spending that tax refund at the garden center? Now is the time to shake off winter, and start playing with all the colors again.

If you’re on Instagram, check out my stories and feed for some upcoming projects to Plant My Pots. I hope you’ll get some inspiration on how to pick new color schemes for your own containers.

More Black Death Musings:

• My new favorite podcast – The History of English Podcast, Episode 120 The End of the World sparked much of my interest. It’s also an excellent podcast about the History of the English language.
• World Without End – Ken Follet’s excellent novel about the middle ages, but you just wish to knock some sense into the main characters to get on with it.
• Set slightly before the Black Death (1306), Knightfall on Netflix is a suitably entertaining depiction of the middle ages.
• Time Travel and Black Death? Yes please! The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis is not as captivating as some of her WWII time travel books, but a good dive into the period.