The beginning of spring, or is it ?
Do you remember when I accidentally managed to get my Christmas Cactus to flower on Christmas Day ? Well this is a Christmas Rose blooming on the first day of March. Oh well, can't win them all. This is a double Helleborus niger purchased last June from Hayloft Plants. I didn't expect it to flower this spring as it is still a very small plant.
According to legend, Helleborus niger was named the Christmas Rose because a young girl's tears made it appear through the snow. She was crying because she had no gift to give to baby Jesus. It usually flowers in January, apparently on what used to be Christmas Day according to the Julian calendar. Wish they hadn't messed about with the calendars. No wonder a lot of the old sayings don't come true anymore.
And talking of sayings, it's the beginning of March, so:
'If March comes in like a lion,
It goes out like a lamb.
If it comes in like a lamb,
It goes out like a lion.'
Oh I would say it's been the lambing season today, but that doesn't bode well for the end of the month, does it ?
It will be interesting to see if that adage is true since we have had such a mild winter. My hellebore are blooming as well. I want to add more of them because they are so nice to see at this time of year. I like the story or myth you shared...I had not heard that.
ReplyDeleteThere is a very similar story in the song 'The Gift' sung by Collin Raye. But instead of a hellebore, the song is about a nightingale.
DeleteI am curious to see if March goes out like a lion. But that could be tornadoes around here (parts of the US are already experiencing them). Beautiful bloom!
ReplyDeleteI don't know how accurate the saying is. It's very well known but I've never tested it before.
DeleteHi...love your profile description! It's so good to see the garden coming alive and your photography is just perfect. Ignore the poems, they're as bad as weathermen!! xx
ReplyDeleteBut sometimes the sayings come true. Don't know about this one though.
DeleteWell it was certainly a good start to the month - we'll have to wait and see how the rest of it fares.
ReplyDeleteYes, i'll be checking the saying out this year. Never paid much attention to it before.
DeleteA mnie jeszcze nie kwitnie :( i dzisiaj padał deszcz, było szaro, ale ciepło.Pozdrawiam.*** And I still do not bloom (and today it rained, it was gray, but the heat. Regards.
ReplyDeleteSpring will come, Giga. Not long now.
DeleteNot sure where the Hellebores are flowering at Christmas time...not in London at least, the earliest I have had is last week of January. Beautiful Helleborus Niger, mine is flowering too right now :-)
ReplyDeleteThis is the first Helleborus niger that I have had in flower. I seem to remember reading somewhere that they usually start blooming late January onwards, certainly not at Christmas time.
DeleteHellebores, the first one opened up in our garden on the 29th January, how unexpected is that in an Aberdeen garden. Beginning of Spring! well yesterday I read that the first of March heralded this, yet today the information was that there is still two weeks of Winter left.
ReplyDelete29th January, that's cheating. You are over a month in front of us now. Has Aberdeen moved ?
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