A Lenten Rose By Any Other Name

(But hey, now I know how it will look)

A Lenten Rose by any other name is evidently a Hellebore. So many plants are known by multiple names that it's easy to not realize when two things you think you know turn out to be the same thing. How do I know this about the Lenten Rose? Because I just found the plastic pot tags from some of the plants that my landscaper put in and one of them says "Lenten Rose Helleborus Frostkiss (R) 'Reanna's Ruby'" and the picture is definitely the Hellebore which I have been saying is just about to bloom FOR A SOLID WEEK! (Come on now, girl, rise and shine!) This morning she was lovely, all purple buds shining with glittering frost.

Another of the tags I found belongs to the peony, which sadly does not seem to be a sorbet (unless I'm misunderstanding something). It does, however, have a mixed color bloom according to the photo on the tag, which says it is "Paeonia 'Cora Stubbs'" and should have deep pink and creamy blooms. The back bed seems to have been planted with a lot of burgundy and pink and red, which is okay with me so long as it isn't predominantly pink.

The last one for which I now have information is the Bee Balm, and given that I've three plants of this in the bed it could be that they're all the same, which seems likely, or different varieties, but at least one of them is "Jacob Kline" and promise to smell amazing. Supposedly it's red, but some images seem to show a slight pinkish tone so we'll see what comes up. Either way it's sure to be fantastic to see.


As further proof that I live in a truly small town, when I was buying anchor stakes at the hardware store the other day I ran into the dog's vet so in the course of conversation I told him about the greenhouse blowing over. Well, today I was out clearing up some fallen limbs from the yard after the storm, and he walked by the house with his wife, out for a ramble. He inquired after the greenhouse and I told him it was done and all. I also while I was out in the property found some large, irregular stones that would make nice pavers for a little path from the deck to the greenhouse door, and it seems that there are a bunch more in the sloped bed which currently only has boxwoods, and down in the culvert where the drainage goes. So rather than buying paving stones I think I'll be just fine to dig up what the property so generously already provides. A little bit of exercise out and about in the yard is better than a stationary bike any day.