Hi Linda....Excellent results with Johns seeds, always.
Mrs. Betty Ranicar and double pink seedlings from several years ago bloomed one July when only 15 months old! They grew like gangbusters here with no nutrition other than compost. Our weather has been the pits (heavy rains, devastating wind) but I think all plants from his seeds in my garden are sending up flowering shoots now - exception is last Spring's containerized seedlings.

My seeds, sown outdoors in 4 x 5" pots in January when they arrive will normally germinate approximately March/April and continue into May. Most will flower their second winter...keeping in mind my clay with high organic content soil does not freeze.

I've placed an order too; John reports they are in the grip of the worst drought on record with poor seed set combined with loss of plants and seedlings - but he was able to fill my order of named varieties without making substitutions.

Nothing is allowed to touch my hellebore seedlings but me -I bait for slugs here 11 months of the year, occasionally skipping January :)

If you want to see some pictures, here is a link:

Here is a link that might be useful: ET flowers in first bloom

I am one of the few ( if any) people who have not had luck getting the ET seeds to germinate. The first year we had very heavy rains and no seeds germinated in the pots.
Last year the seeds that I got weree not packaged properly. I put them into the refrigerator for 6 weeks and then planted them. One seed out of 30 germinated.
It looks like some of you do not put them into the refrigerator. Now I am not sure which to do. I did both ways and had no luck, yet hundreds of my own seeds germinate under the parents every year in my yard.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I have had luck with the seeds from our swap. Most of them have germinated.
Mary/Gainesville, GA

Mary
I did not ordered seeds last year but the year before that and I think I had 100% germination. They were in the fridge for about 3 weeks and then germinated. It was not easy to take care of seedlings but most of them made it and now I am hoping for flowers this year.
I just received notice that my seeds were sent out Jan 9 so am happy and waiting. Will post my results.

I took pictures of virtually all of my ETH. If you are interested in the range of flowers, check here. My germination from several years ago was close to 100%

Here is a link that might be useful: My ETH hellbores, good and bad

oops, some were not great but I don't think I would label them 'hellbores.' Sorry about the mispelling, though it made me laugh.

Did not order from them this year, but last year seed gave about 50% germination, and I kept the pots I had planted which did not germinate, and they are mostly coming up now so overall it will be a very high percentage of germination. I think I may have taken them out of the fridge too early is why some waited an extra year to sprout.

George

I ordered this year, first time for me, (last year, I was too late,) after reading so many positive comments from you all over the past couple of years, and am looking forward to my shipment. My one regret after seeing your photos, is that I only ordered one package!

Got my seeds today- nice, juicy ones, each packet at least 12 seeds and even some free extra. It took all of one week to send them to me. Planted them in the fridge right away- happy happy dance to be soon...

George, a lot of us had low germination rates from 2005, but the seeds then sprouted in 2006. That was the year they experimented with using "middle men" rather than mailing them out themselves. I'd expect high rates again now that the Dudleys are back to shipping themselves.