I love the process of “setting the garden to rights” each spring. This spring the task is especially daunting because of the aftereffects of Hurricane Sandy. I am very lucky that all I have to worry about is the garden, but the work is still there. The rear of my back garden was covered with downed limbs that were piled at least six feet high at the end of the storm. I hauled out the ones I could manage and hired someone to chop and remove the rest. Now I am busy getting rid of the accumulation of twigs, small branches and other storm detritis.
Underneath it all, the hellebores are blooming, keeping time with the snowdrops, early crocuses and emerging daffodils. I take time out from gathering branches and raking dead leaves to clear spaces around the hellebores, carefully clipping the big, dead hellebore leaves. Once the hellebores are shorn, it is easy to see their nodding blooms. I add a few plants to the collection this year and have high hopes of getting a true yellow one this spring. Every hellebore is a revelation and, unlike some revelations, the hellebore experience goes on and on as the blooms shine forth for four to six weeks.