Tibetan Hellebore

Our very long fall (or early spring) caused a lot of things that shouldn't have appeared until March, to make an appearance in December.  If we had stayed warm until spring, all would have been well.  As it is, we have covered a lot of things to keep them safe until the real spring arrives.  One of them is this Tibetan Hellebore.  It is usually the first one to bloom.  It is not one of the evergreen ones (which we have everywhere, thanks to their prolific seeding habits), but dies to the ground  by mid summer.  I saw it starting to come up and threw some pine needles over the two clumps that had done so.  With the temperatures down near 10, I also gave them a cover of a styrofoam box.  They are so pretty I just hate to have them ruined.  Hopefully this will protect them until better weather.  The first photo is now, and the other is what they will look like when spring finally gets here for real.