Heavenly Hellebores
Helleborus (Rodney Davey Marbled Group) ‘Anna's Red’
Before the hellebore season comes to an end, I thought a eulogy to these heavenly plants might be helpful.
So this journal is for planning and saving if you want to have more hellebores in your garden next year. It might also make you smile! And who wouldn’t want more of these low maintenance, lovely perennials which gently sing from the side-lines and from dark corners during late winter and early spring offering the prettiest of flowers?
Helleborus niger
Christmas Roses
Helleborus niger: the Christmas rose, low growing, elegant and white with glossy green foliage. She’s often the image on a garden lover’s Christmas card and may bloom in time for Christmas if you’re lucky. But she’s fragile, and I find she often damages in winter rain and storms, her gorgeous luminous petals and lemon coloured stamen often looking like a girl who’s come off worse for wear at a Christmas party or Cinderella on her way home from the ball.
I love her and will often include her in a planting plan for a sheltered spot but I can’t pretend she’s reliably beautiful. I recommend covering her with one of those old-fashioned Victorian cloches from Claverton Cloches from November onwards to protect her from the elements or pop her in a bud vase just as she unfolds her petals so you can appreciate her beauty.
Alternatively, pot her up in a pretty pot or basket and enjoy her inside (somewhere cool) or outside on a raised table where you can appreciate her and see her flowers. After all who wants to get down on their hands and knees to look at a plant in the middle of winter?
Helleborus x hybridus brightening a dark corner in my garden and starting to self seed
Lenten Roses
Helleborus x hybridus, also known as Helleborus orientalis: the Lenten rose, who’s blooming now in a myriad of white, cream, yellow, pink, purple, red, green and deep dark undertones. There are so many varieties, both single and doubles, with many marking types, you will be spoilt for choice.
Hellebores self seeding in profusion
These plants love moist, well-drained soil, thrive in partial shade and are spectacularly easy to grow. All you need do is remember to snip off their leaves at the base of the plant in late November, early December, so the fresh new flowers and leaves can grow up with light and air. Removing this old foliage which may be prone to hellebore leaf spot, means that new flowers and growth should not be affected.
If having done this, you spot something nasty in mid spring, it’s colloquially known as the ‘black death’, as the hellebore curls and stunts like a death eaters’ curse, then you have a problem. A problem only solved by immediate bonfiring. I have seldom heard of the ‘black death’ actually happening (just one friend has mentioned it) so please don’t be put off and do persevere with this lovely Lenten rose.
Hellebores at Rodmarton Manor
Where to grow
So here are some thoughts on where to grow them and how to combine for a stunning early display:
- In a north facing border with rare and special snowdrops and perhaps a carpet of moss as seen at Rodmarton Manor
- Amongst winter scented shrubs such as Sarcoccoca rustifolia and perhaps one of the smaller, heavily scented new daphne varieties, try Daphne x transatlantica ‘Eternal Fragrance’ if you like white flowers or ‘Pink Fragrance’ if you prefer to go pink
- Combine the darker varieties with Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’ for a display of regal purples and reds with the fresh blue pop of springtime
- Let them alone to self-seed and multiply like a carpet. They will be prolific although unlikely come up ‘true’ so instead you will create glorious colourings and combinations of your own.
Helleborus x hybridus Harvington®
What to grow
Amongst the x hybridus species, the Harvington hybrids® are king. This year, I’ve had a love affair with ‘Pretty Ellen’s Pink’; ‘Harvington Red’ has also had a good show. But you can find a Harvington in almost any combination and now is the time, as their flowers come to an end, to pick up any spare plants from garden centres and nurseries.
My own favourites are varieties which I’ve been given over the years, or should I confess to have dug up (and I only did this with hellebores) favourites when we moved house 15 years ago, such was my affection. Picotee, apricot, and ‘Queen of the Night’ purple are all rather special and worth pursuing; you might also like the incredibly pretty doubles.
Double prettiness: image @clarefostergardens
And once you’ve gathered your collection, display the many different blooms floating on a large flat bowl filled with water and you will have the easiest flower arrangement imaginable that oozes impact and style. Add a tea light or two and you’ll have created something rather fabulous that’s not available from a high street florist.
Alternatively you can be bold and pick whole stems and arrange their flowers in a vase. To do so, follow Philippa Craddock’s advice on how to condition hellebores for arrangements. I find her advice the most honest and helpful.
Other Angels
I fear I’m biased towards the Lenten rose but it would be callous not to mention a few other hellebore varieties which feature or have emerged more recently:
Helleborus argutifolius
Helleborus argutifolius is a large perennial, at c 1.2m high, native to the tough hillsides of Sardinia and Corsica. With thick serrated leaves and a long-lasting green flower, I find this plant works best on the margins of a garden, where the ‘wild things are’, combined with equally robust shrubs so it doesn’t look thuggish or alternatively in a tropical context. Given its height, I think it needs something to hold it upright (if you want that look) as it doesn’t stand up straight for me.
Helleborus foetidus growing wild and standing up very straight
Helleborus foetidus is its stinking cousin, native to the UK, growing in woodland and shady areas. A brilliant plant, also wonderful on the margins or along a forgotten hedge line, perhaps with its native friend Euphorbia amygdaloids var. robbiae. I love the deep red eyeliner the cultivated varieties sometimes wear on the edge of their petals. A reliable winner.
Helleborus (Rodney Davey Marbled Group) ‘Anna's Red’ a barmaid of a hellebore: big, blousy with fabulous flowers and a good doer, blooming from December to March. She has strong marbled foliage with serrated edges and is a touch on the large side at 60cm high. Expensive, she needs the right spot away from more delicate varieties. Perhaps on her own, underplanted with spring bulbs, where she will be the star of the show? Or amongst larger evergreen shrubs such a Osmanthus burkwoodii or Viburnum davidii?
Helleborus x nigercors ‘Winter Passion’ with bumble bee
Helleborus x nigercors ‘Winter Passion’ Is altogether more subtle, clump forming and flowering in profusion. She also has the same very serrated foliage. A cross between Helleborus argutifolius & Helleborus niger, she is beloved by the early pollinators and very pretty. Because of her parentage, she’s a tougher alternative to the Christmas rose so one to watch if you can track her down.
Demure beauties
Hellebores feature on my very long ‘top ten’ plant list. With their nodding heads and gracious manners, a hellebore will never stare you in the face or ask for much in terms of care. Some leaf mulch in the autumn is all you need to add for plant success. Plus some active management of their predilection to self seed, if you don’t want a colony.
So as spring arrives with its blossom, bird song and bulbs (and sometimes snow), the hellebores will quietly move aside. Now is the moment to buy your hellebores so they have the whole year to become established in your garden before next season. You might even pick up some bargains as the season comes to an end. I recommend Ashwood Nurseries for their award-winning collection, Beth Chatto or Crocus for lovely selections. And if you would like advice how to add hellebores to your garden, do get in touch.
Helleborus niger planted up inside