Helleborus x hybridus Vines 'Alice' came from the University

'Alice' came from the University of Georgia campus

is one of the happy exceptions

a wry nod to the poisonous nature of the tribe

What follows is the part collectors plant the shrub for: the petals drop

and where its history as the parent of a garden mainstay can be quietly appreciated

Helleborus x hybridus Vines 'Alice' came from the UniversityThe Lenten rose is not a rose at all, but a member of the buttercup tribe that happens to flower around Lent, in the raw weeks of late winter when the garden is otherwise bare. The blooms are nodding cups a couple of inches across, held just above the foliage in white, cream, pink, plum, and a smoky green, many of them freckled or veined at the throat. What look like petals are in fact sepals, which is the secret of the long show: rather than dropping