Lenten Rose
Your lenten rose plant will reward you well if in the spring you place a few inches of compost or mulch if you dont have any compost at the base of the plant.
Lenten rose. Their new growth generally appears during late january and february and precedes the 3 to 4 inch nodding cup shaped flowers that quickly emerge through the mulch or snow layer. Helleborus orientalis also known as the lenten rose is a perennial flowering plant and species of hellebore in the buttercup family ranunculaceae native to greece and turkey. Lenten rose helleborus x hybridus a perennial belonging to the buttercup family is not actually a roseits two part common name refers to the plants bloom season around lent and the rose like shape of its flower buds. Jean baptiste lamarck described the species in 1789 giving it its current name of helleborus orientalis hellebore du levant.
Commonly known as hellebores h l b r z the eurasian genus helleborus consists of approximately 20 species of herbaceous or evergreen perennial flowering plants in the family ranunculaceae within which it gave its name to the tribe of helleboreae. Lenten rose plants helleborus x hybridus are not roses at all but a hellebore hybridthey are perennial flowers that derived their name from the fact that the blooms look similar to that of a rose. The species name is derived from the latin oriens east. Despite names such as winter rose christmas rose and lenten rose hellebores are not closely related to the rose family.
Valued for its early blooms of purple red yellow green blue lavender and pink and its leathery evergreen foliage lenten roses contribute good color throughout the.