I got round to planting out a little Hellebrous niger Christmas Rose today that had been sitting in a plastic pot ever since I bought it last year from the supermarket next door- it was rather pot-bound & its little while flower buds were distinctly scruffy. I then had a look for the white one I know is there already. I was pleased to find it is coming on well now. I have two large hybrid ones in the front garden I bought last year which I hope will be in bloom before long.

They earn their place in the Magic Garden as their blooms ward off evil spirits. Apparently they are used to create invisibility too - not tried that yet!

Christmas Roses are in fact members of the buttercup family rather than roses but gained this common name from an old legend that the flowers sprouted up from the tears of a girl who had nothing to give to the baby Christ. Mine never flower in time for even the old Christmas date in January