Hellebore happiness to mentoring- In a Vase on Monday – 21 January 2019

It’s been snowing!!!! and rather cold – a nice, bracing -2 C in Manchester.  So, I nipped out in the freezing weather to pick some flowers and take some photos – the only plants I could see flowering were my three hellebores, so I picked one and photographed another; no time for hanging around.   These flowers lift my mood.

In my Vase:

• white hellebore – I’m not sure of the variety (oops).
• hellebores have appeared before
  • In a Vase on Monday – thankful for hellebores (and my old boss) – 6 April 2015
  • In a Vase on Monday -hellebore – half cup full and an Afternoon Tea at Tatton Park – 15 February 2016
  • yoda, hellebores, fuchsias – Six on Saturday – 22-December-2018/ – 22 December 2018
• Hellebore’s common name is Christmas or Lenten Rose – but it’s not a member of the rose family.
• Hypericum – the bright yellow flowers, autumn ‘berries’ and black ‘berries’ have appeared many many times on the blog – search #hypericum
• the vase is from the LSA Chimney set – it appeared earlier in the month, with the other two in the set – I was talking about goal setting too so do have a look.
  • 3 goals in 2019 using-YearCompass-in 2019  14 January 2019

I’m a bit of rubbish gardening blogger, I’ve lost the label under the mulch so I’ll need to investigate when it’s not sub-zero and windy.

As usual, I am joining in with Cathy from Rambling in the Garden, who has some very pretty primula.  (www.ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com). Do have a look around the links on her blog – people join in from all around the world. You don’t need to be an expert gardener or a flower arranger to join in – just pick something from around your garden or locality and put in a ‘vase’, photograph and write about it.

Planting Hellebore

• flowers January to April depending on the variety – shades of white through to dark purple – Cathy from Rambling in the garden reminded me there are yellow and green ones too.
• Cut away any damaged leaves as it’s easier to see the flowers,
• dappled shade, under trees.  They look lovely with snowdrops and cyclamen.
• prefers more free-flowing soil – not happy if it’s waterlogged soil.
• perennial – so grows back every year
• Hardy across the UK – some of the newer varieties are a bit more temperamental.
• flower arranging the flower heads are naturally rather droopy. In the past, I’ve also floated a flower head in a bowl of water too.  In today’s vase, I wedged the stem with hypericum.

I think hellebores are an easy plant to grow – and gosh it lifts my mood when I can see the flowers peeping through the gloom.  I’ve got two plants yet to put in the ground (oops) but I think I’ll be putting them in a low pot near the window so I can get better drainage and see them when the weather is too vile to go outside.

*****

The other good news is –  I have many bulbs sprouting – Spring isn’t far away 😉

I’m dreaming of the sunshine, flowers and more adventures.  Planning is coming along well with various activities – my latest adventure was a silver clay jewellery making course.

*****

Mentoring

Reading my hellebore post from a few years back about my awesome former boss, it reminded me of some of her advice and sayings…
I learnt so much from her, how to chair meetings to an exact timeframe, how to be a coaching and supportive line manager, how to negotiate with a smile and a good outcome, how to focus discussions and get agreement…  She was a massive mentor to me, and I often think ‘what would she do in a certain situation’… I’m mulling about what she’d say about my current situation 🙂

• For the gardeners do you grow hellebores?
• Do you have someone who was a mentor? 
• have you been a mentor?
• What was their best advice?

Carpe Diem.

love Bec xx xx xx