The Lenten rose--helleborus (also known as Christmas rose)--is one of the easiest and most rewarding plants to grow. It has the ability to bloom in the colder months of the year when other plants are sleeping, making it the star of any late winter/early spring garden.

This sturdy little evergreen plant originally hails from southern Europe and parts of western Asia. It grows 12-18" high and wide, with shiny, blue-green, leathery leaves and finely-toothed edges. It produces flowers from as early as late fall in warmer regions all the way to late spring in colder climates.

The Lenten rose gets its name from its flowers, that tend to be the most prolific around the period of Lent. Each plant produces many flower stalks that bear a single 2 to 4 inch single or double bloom. Thanks to an increase in hybridizing, the flower colors range from slate grey, near-black, deep purple and plum, through rich red and pinks, to yellow, white and green.

The outer surface of the sepals is often green-tinged, and as the flower ages it usually becomes greener inside and out, with individual flowers often remaining on the plant for a month or more. The inner surface of each sepal may be marked with veins, or dotted or blotched with pink, red or purple. Some even have a "picotee" effect.

Nearly every garden has a spot for hellebores, and the plants will thrive in many different environments. They are excellent for bringing color to garden borders, under deciduous trees, or between other shrubs. They can handle shady locations, but perform best if given morning sun. They are stout little plants and once established, become reasonably drought-tolerant.

Lenten roses like rich, well-draining soil. Treat them just like any acid-loving plant and amend the soil with peat moss or an acid planting mix such as Gardner & Bloome Acid Planting Mix. Remove any old, tattered foliage each spring after blooming and feed them with an acid fertilizer like Dr. Earth Organic 4 Azalea & Camellia Fertilizer. Then sit back and wait for them to put on another show of color the next year.

There are few pleasures greater than that of standing amidst your flowers and finding yourself joined by the little Harrier jets of the garden, the hummingbirds. The smallest birds in the world, these acrobats will dart and delight as they pollinate a vast array of flowers, trees and shrubs. They are attracted to the color red, and may even be enticed to visit your feeder if you tie a red ribbon around it.

This writer prefers to plant flowers and shrubs such as Buddleia (the butterfly bush), Campsis radicans that creates a wall of brightly colored trumpet-shaped flowers, perennial bee balm, Russian sage, and surprisingly, dinner plate dahlias.

In fact, having fallen in love with the dahlias last year, I planted all of my window boxes surrounding the perimeter of my rocking chair porch with container-type dahlias. So, whether I was working amidst the 5' high blooms in my English cottage garden, or resting with a book on the porch, I was constantly visited by these miniature marvels, the hummingbirds. For you to enjoy the same pleasures, plant bell-shaped, trumpet-shaped and tubular flowers such as bellflowers, petunias and honeysuckle; gladiolus surrounding a deck is also a popular draw.

Plant your flowers in large blocks of color, and don't shy away from plants of height. Delphiniums and hollyhocks will provide an excellent back row in a tiered perennial bed, and are a strong attractant for the hummingbird.

Northern gardeners as far north as Canada are treated almost exclusively to the Ruby-throated hummingbird, as most are native to Central and South America. The Allen hummingbird, similar to the Rufous but with a green back, populates California almost exclusively, as does Anna's hummingbird which, more than any other North American hummingbird, sings.

Include a bird bath or shallow trough for your hummingbird garden; this is also important for butterfly gardens. Provide small trees and shrubs for shelter, and a place where they may build nests if you're favored with long-term residents.

And then sit back and watch the show!

Perhaps it's because of our rushed lifestyles or maybe it's just that people want to spend what little time they have enjoying roses instead of pruning them, but lower maintenance shrub roses are definitely growing in popularity.

Shrub roses can be blended in with other shrubs and perennials without any special needs, providing a non-stop splash of color wherever they are planted. Unlike regular bush roses, shrub roses are self-cleaning and don't require pruning between blooming cycles. The blooms naturally drop off and are covered within a few week with a whole new set of blossoms.

This year, we have new introductions that have been grown in test gardens for two years to prove their performance for home gardeners. If you don't already have a few planted in your garden, we encourage you to try a couple and see how easy they can be to grow.

	'Cape Diamond'--An an incredibly disease resistant, vigorous growing plant that is equally comfortable as a spreading shrub or trained as a climber. The old-fashioned pure pink flowers have a strong, spicy fragrance and contrast nicely against the hardy rugosa-like grey-green foliage.
	'Carefree Spirit'--This vigorous, well-branched award winning shrub rose boasts huge clusters of deep cherry red blooms with a white eye and yellow stamens over a long season and healthy dark green glossy foliage that is very disease resistant.
	'Sunny Knock Out'--The newest release from the Knock Out family has the disease resistance of the original with similar dark, attractive foliage and bright yellow flowers that bloom throughout the year.
	'Teeny Bopper'--This scarlet and white shrublet has hydrangea-like clusters of scrumptious color. The pointed buds explode into long-lived flowers supported by deep green foliage. This is the perfect plant for those who want a small, carefree rose.
	'White Out'--This new rose takes flower power to new heights with bright white blooms and bright yellow stamens that provide a more compact alternative to the famous 'Iceberg' rose. A great rose for the garden landscape.

Answer:

A fertilizer can be labeled as all-organic when it is completely composed of naturally-occurring ingredients. While people place an organic label on manures--and products such as bone meal, blood meal and "hoof and horn" are considered organic--most blended organic fertilizers do not contain these products. Most organic fertilizers use only plant and fish by-products as a source for their nutrients.

The majority of organic fertilizer blends contain a mixture of alfalfa meal, cottonseed meal, kelp meal, feather meal, fish bone meal, mined potassium sulfate, soft rock phosphate and seaweed extract. Organic plant foods break down faster in meal form than in pelletized form, because pellets have a binding agent that needs to be broken down before the nutrients can become available to the plant roots.