Lenten rose

The hellebores or hybrid lenten roses are one of the garden plants that have really benefited from the rain in 2012. We have quite a few clumps which generally put on a good show in early spring, but some of them suffer during dry summers, especiallythose that are in a moderately shady bed which tends to get sucked dry by our neighbours huge conifers. Last year the hellebores didn't experience any periods of drought stress and so are blooming particularly profusely this spring.

Some of the plants are at least twenty years old, while others have been planted more recently. We also have a number of self-sown seedlings, which vary in depth of colour and the degree of freckling.I've always been fascinated by the complex arrangement of stamens and styles, and so actually used the tripod to get a detailed shot of the flower centre. The even, grey light is excellent for showing up detail - I suppose it has to be good for something!