This plant self seeded in my border three years ago. In the first year it grew and in November produced the buds that you can see but they came to nothing. It survived the winter and got bigger through the second summer still with buds but no flowers. The second winter killed it, by the spring of the third year it sprang up in a new location two feet from its original and this is it now. What is it? and how do I make it flower? Hope someone knows. I have included a 12 inch rake for perspective.
As noted by Zigs and Palustris its Helleborus Foetidus - I looks as if you already have the flowers, they are the pale green bits in your picture. It is a very good plant for shade, but take care if you cut it back or pull it out as the sap can be irritative. Here is a link to the RHS website with full details. https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/details?plantid=3063 There is also a short YouTube video you might like to look at - Link :
Agree with the others We have them all over the garden and ours haven't stopped flowering for 14 months. As Alex says, the light green part is the flower but, as the plant develops, the flowers get larger. This is how one patch of mine looked in March. They're starting to look a bit tatty now so I may trim them back next month.
to Gardeners Corner. Wow, what an impressive bunch of gardeners there are on here, trust you are suitably impressed, enjoy, Jenny namaste
WOW! what a response. Thank you all very much. At the moment the unopened buds have a slight whiff of cabbage about them I will tell you what it smells like if the flowers open.
Hi Stephen, and welcome to GC - Happy that we could help with the ID of (^%^$%^%$$ It would be helpful if you could add your location to your profile, as lots of garden advice depends on the area in which you are situated. We may not be a big country, but there is a huge difference North/South or East West. a-a
Blimey, they must be bad if your are saying not to eat 'em, you eat all sorts that grows randomly....
I'm not sure if seed of this is included in wild bird food, as I've had a few come up in my garden from time to time.
Could be - generally the helleborus genus only grow easily from fresh seed, but if a good quantity is included in bird food some may come through. Just as an aside, I hang my seed-feeder over the lawn, so any rogue germinations are mown out.
