Hi claysoil, this is one of the Pine Knot Farms strain. I bought a flat of them. This was the only one in the flat that had this foliage coloration/pattern. But I noticed other plants like it in other flats scattered throughout the greenhouse. I don't have any Elizabeth Town strain. I have what IMHO is a nice purple ... I will post a picture of it in the gallery here. And I have a dark red that I like, it looks like a rose in bud, but the flowers face down. Also, I just received a couple of Graham Birkin's "Quilty" strain and one was big enough to divide so I have an extra. And I bought an Ashwood Picotee which I divided, but I haven't seen it flower and to be honest I think they had been picked over last spring. And I bought a couple of the Pine Knot Farm's "variegated strain" and would trade one.

whether or not a pot freezes solid is a function of temps;. AND THE SIZE of THE POT ... and dont forget that.. lol ... a little insulation on a small pot.. will not stop it from freezing ... and to be clear .. gal said freeze.. not get cold .. on the other had .. a25 gallon huge pot.. will not freeze.... in a couple of hours of night colde... IN Z7 ... dont focus on single variables.. consider them all... to this cold z5 boy.. this all seems moot for you z7 peeps... your soil never freezes.. and if it did... the world would hear about it... so if you are really talking about leaf tissue damage form some below 32 temps.. i just dont see how insulating the roots would make a difference .. if they are small enough to drag int he house.. on extreme cold spells.. just drag them in ... you can make space for a few days... you warm zone peeps throw freeze and cold around like they mean the same thing... my soil freezes solid for about 3 months or more.. that is a freeze ... in my MI.. most of jan and feb and early march.. as well as some of dec are never above 32 degrees... that is freeze ... [not this year though... lol /.. 50s and so much fog.. you can barely drive down the road.... words mean things.. so make you are really talking about the same thing.... do pots in z7 really freeze?? .. or do roots get cold... when a pot freezes.. there is no water drainage.. and that is why many things die on pots in winter.... water and ice accumulation ... retards the roots ability to get air... and can kill them if the freeze is prolonged .... ken

I’m sorry that I did not follow up on this thread, but I was having trouble with my email account and I wasn’t getting notifications for awhile. It’s all fixed now and I’m just trying to catch up wtih threads I didn’t finish. Rosaprimula, that’s a good idea to use annuals when you have a bed with seedlings that are not flowering. I’ve never tried Nigella, is that an early spring annual? Here we have late frosts and this year a few times in April temps were as low as 32F for a couple of nights. I end up covering some plants, so annuals need to be pretty comfortable with these weather fluctuations. Here pansies often do the trick with a light covering on nights that the temps are that low. I remember there are other annuals that are good in cool weather, although their name escapes me at the moment. I’ll try to remember using them for that application next time I start from seed. ‘Water the best fertilizer’ that is so true! We are supposed to get most of our rain in the spring. ‘April showers bring May flowers’. Although we've had a couple of seasons about 3-5 years ago where that was not true at all, it used to be rare, not to have enough water until June. This year we are above our average rainfall by about 8 inches. And yes, I am really noticing the difference. The Hellebores in my garden finally look like they have put on some size. Has to be all the rain we’ve had. Mad Gallica, I do notice that those that are in more sun are doing the best. Seedlings approaching weed status…wow, amazing how different our experiences are. Your Hellebores must be very happy there. LaLennnoxa, that’s a very pretty Hellebore. It has pink and white not on the same plant but as a collection of seedlings looks like. I’m going to have to look more closely under the main plant for seedlings. The flowers are a nice size. Finally all the new foliage has opened on mine. I think this one is 'Dashing Groom' from the wedding series. That's only 2 years old. This one is 'Dorothy's Dawn'. It's also only 2 years old, but I bought it as a gallon size. Maybe you can see the foliage is variegated. It gets more pronounced as the season continues. 'Golden Lotus', a Terra Nova plug 'Mellow Yellow' has been in this position since 2009 and this is the first year it has looked this full. It gets direct morning sun, but is under the dripline of a large Maple and is in shade the rest of the day.

Yes, I think it might. I do have one Hellebore that has produced seedlings every once in awhile but has not established any colonies or spread. Let's see....I just looked up which i have.... Four were plugs from Terra Nova. I have a couple from the Wedding series - 'Dark and Handsome' and 'Dashing Groomsman'. 'Moonlit Night' from the Honeymoon Series. The Frost Kiss series 'Dorothy Dawn' and 'Ivory Prince' The one that did produce a couple of seedlings was unnamed from the Sunshine Selections. This seems to be what they are offering in the nurseries.