Flowers in February~ Hellebores

I've never been much of a winter gardener. The cold air and wind makes my nose run and my head ache. It is nice however to have a plant or two with something going on when the mood strikes to take a brief walk with the camera. This is the first year that I've had flowers on my Bear Claw Hellebore- Helleborus foetidus. It was planted in 2008~ a swap plant~ and I really enjoyed the foliage in its own right. The large bloom stalk began forming in the fall and these flowers may have been here for a while before I discovered them. This first photo was taken last Saturday...





...and these yesterday.










My one mature Helleborus x hybridus is still in bud.






I found some really cool scripts for my PSPX2 yesterday. I thought this one was pretty cool on the Hens and Chicks.



Our dogs are rather spoiled by being able to do their business indoors on p-p-pads and so they don't spend alot of time outdoors during the week either. I let them out of the back door onto the deck all of the time because Chewy will not go down the steps into the yard and so far Meike too~ knock on wood. Here are a few shots of the duo from yesterday.









My mom lost her best friend to ovarian cancer yesterday. This is in honor of Gail ~ she will be greatly missed.