Thanks for your response Bruce. I have the collection number somewhere, but fear that I may not know which of two batches this patch is. I like the idea of netting the flowers to keep the pollinators off because I really do want more "pure" odorus. They are so beautiful in their simplicity. I was hoping that the answer would be "they are really hard to cross....."

"they are really hard to cross....."

well odorus has a decent large flower, great growth rate, hardy and is easy to grow.

the foliage is broad, like orientalis.

and this brings another possibility to hybridization....

well..i am getting lost in the possibilities.

hey, find that collection number, tag that hellebore, collect that seed. if you have any other of Tim's collected seed grown species hellebore label it and keep it growing!

the thing to remember with Tim's study and collection is that Tim usually collected in the same regions. you can have different TM collection numbers from year to year that are from the same collection site.

any TM or WM species seed grown hellebore are very rare

love talkin species hellebore, thanks

Well, the good news is that the seeds I collected from the odorus popped up in their pots this spring. Apparently the bad news is that I have 3 years to wait to see what they will turn into. I did manage to free up a garden bed for them though.

Claysoil, I just found this thread. How are your odorus seedlings doing? Flowers this year? Please show us pictures once they bloom.

I'll answer the original question.

They will have crossbred with anything in wind or bee range!!

Your seeds could be anything!!

I also havea few dozen H. odorus from some of Tim's seeds and many generations of seedlings from them have been blooming for years now. A tendency to have a lot of more-or-less greenish ones but many spotted, splotched and a lot of the magenta shades also.