Barry Glick is a great plantsman with a fine eye for hellebores. He’s also more than a little bit of a nut about the plants he loves.

Barry owns Sunshine Farm and Gardens in Renick, W.V. It’s mostly wholesale, but Barry has always had a soft spot for home gardeners who want some of his often rare and unusual plants.

According to his Web site, Barry maintains more than 50,000 flowering size stock helebores for seed production.

If you don’t have any hellebores yet, you’re missing a great deer-resistant plant with loads of winter interest.

Here’s an email from Barry about new hellebore offerings:

“For years now I’ve ignored your desperate pleas for Double and Anemone Flowered Hellebores. I’ve been so selfish in hoarding them. Yes, I’ve wanted to keep them ALL for myself. I’ve been overprotective and stingy. But now, I’ve had an epiphany, a revelation of sorts and I can bear the guilt no longer! (Not really, excuse the drama. I’ve just run out of room and putting kids through college ain’t getting any cheaper )

“So today is your lucky day, your prayers have been answered, your dreams are about to come true and I’m gonna make you “An offer you can’t refuse”. (More drama, I just can’t resist it >:-})

“But seriously folks………………….

“The ‘Sunshine Spectaculars’ are the results of years and years of controlled breeding, fanatic attention to detail, insane obsessive compulsiveness and copious record keeping. Each year I painstakingly hand pollinate almost 1000 parent plants that I’ve selected for a multitude of qualities such as depth of color, anemone flowers, double flowers, size of flowers, shape of flowers, vigor, symmetry, lack of symmetry, floriferousness (is that really a word?) etc. For example, one of my favorites, 2002-039 appears below:

“I must confess that I’ve been selling them discreetly to arm twisting visitors for the last couple of years. These folks are the desperate Hellebore fanatics that have travelled here from all corners of the universe and have been able to overpower my sensibilities by waving money directly in my face. I’ve charged them $25.00 for each 2” pot in hopes of discouraging their purchase, but they were only too glad to pay that sum for an unflowered seedling after seeing the parent stock in full flower. You too can see their parents in flower if you come visit me here this Spring, or if you can’t make the journey, go here.

“Each image is a thumbnail and when you click on it, your screen will be flush with color.

“Now, $25.00 may seem like a lot of money for a 2” pot of a plant that hasn’t flowered yet. However, when you look at the parents and understand that double and anemone flowered pollinations produce over 80% double and anemone flowered results and consider that even the few that don’t come true are spectacular selections in their own rights, it IS a reasonable price!

“But, I’ll make it even more palatable for you. If you order a set of 3, which would normally be $75.00 plus $12.00 shipping for a total of $87.00, you can just send me $50.00. If you order 2 sets of 3 for $100.00, I’ll include an additional one for FREE, and you’ll get 7 for $100.00 DELIVERED. That’s HALF PRICE!!

“My supply of these treasures is NOT endless, so please email reservations@sunfarm.com for a reservation # before filling out the order form at http://www.sunfarm.com/orderform.pdf

“I look forward to sharing these unique plants with you.

“Happy Helleboring,
Barry
Barry Glick aka Glicksterus maximus aka The Cyber-Plantsman
Sunshine Farm & Gardens
HC 67 Box 539 B
Renick WV 24966 USA
304-497-2208
EMAIL – barry@sunfarm.com”