All About Hellebores
Every Canadian garden should be filled with these jewels of the winter and spring
Hellebores are an incredible group of evergreen perennials for gardeners from zone 3 to zone 9. In warmer zones, they are winter- and early spring-bloomers providing colour from late November through April. In colder zones, they flower in late winter and early spring as soon as the snow melts. In any zone they provide interest when most other plants are soundly dormant bringing forth the first major burst of perennial colour for the season.
The Lenten rose, Helleborus x hybridus, comes in the widest range of colours and flower forms.
The Christmas rose, Helleborus niger, is the first to bloom. In mild winter climates it could even be considered a late season bloomer since new cultivars can begin blooming in November and December. In colder regions they bloom as soon as the snow melts. They are followed by many new hybrids including the Frostkiss Series, the Helleborus Gold Collection, the Ice ‘n Roses Series, and rare hybrids such as ‘Rosemary’ and ‘Mme Lemmonier’. Next come the Lenten roses, Helleborus x hybridus, which offer the widest range of colours, flower detailing, and flower forms.
There are hellebores that are better in shade. There are others that are better in sun. Some are great in containers. Others are best in the ground. There are plants with outward-facing flowers and plants with nodding flowers.
All hellebores are easy to grow, long-blooming, and most are long-lived, especially the Lenten roses which can last for decades and even up to a human lifetime. Hellebores bulk up over time getting bigger each year and putting on more and more impressive displays for months on end. Their evergreen foliage makes them useful plants year-round. In all, hellebores are simply one of the most important and useful genera in the perennial garden.
The Christmas Rose
The Christmas Rose, Helleborus niger, has a long tradition of use in the cultures of northern Europe where the plants were brought indoors during the Christmas season to decorate the house. Their pure white blooms and central cluster of golden yellow stamens seemed the perfect accent for the holiday season and to brighten the house and garden during the darkest days of the year.
The Christmas rose has quite dark green, leathery leaves and flowers that are outward-facing. In mild winter climates it usually comes into bud and bloom from late November to mid December continuing into the new year. In colder climates the Christmas rose will bloom as soon as the snow melts.
The Helleborus Gold Collection has revolutionized the Christmas Rose with numerous cultivars all starting with the letter “J” that are particularly robust in both foliage and flowers. The bloom time for these plants can run from December to April! Each cultivar has its own valuable attributes. ‘Jacob’ is the original with a subtle fragrance and good tolerance for being brought into the house. ‘Jonas’ and ‘Jesko’ are also good for this purpose. ‘Jonas’ possesses a few extra petals giving it a fuller look. ‘Josef Lemper’ is the largest-growing of the HGC Christmas roses and is best in the landscape.
The Christmas rose is the hardiest of the hellebores. Reports from northern Ontario and Alberta suggest that H. niger is hardy to zone 4a for sure but probably to zone 3a with a good thick mulch of leaves and good snow cover.
The Christmas rose, Helleborus niger, has icy white flowers embossed with golden stamens. The flowers are mostly outward-facing and bloom in the winter on either side of Christmas in mild climates or as soon as the snow melts in colder climates.
The Stemmed Hybrids or Snow Roses
In recent years an entirely new hybrid group has been developed from the caulescent or stemmed species from the Mediterranean (H. lividus and H. argutifolius) crossed with the Christmas rose, H. niger, which hails from Switzerland, southern Germany, northern Italy and east to Croatia. H. foetidus, the stinking hellebore, has also been used in some crosses.
These intergeneric hybrids offer leathery leaves on which sit clusters of outward-facing flowers mostly in shades of white, cream, pink, and dusty rose. These hybrids are more tolerant of full sun and also do well in pots or the ground whereas the Lenten roses prefer part sun to shade and don’t enjoy pots for more than a few years.
Cultivars from the Ice ‘n Roses series in a display garden at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show.
The first cultivar to make waves of this new hybrid group was Ivory Prince but more recently the Helleborus Gold Collection has introduced many superlative cultivars that have captured the imaginations of gardeners and designers.
Since then the Lenten roses have been crossed into this stemmed hybrid group — a feat previously thought to be impossible — producing outward-facing flowers that sit on top of incredibly mottled foliage in deep, bold colours once the exclusive domain of Helleborus x hybridus. These new hybrids are known as the Frostkiss series. A few years later the Ice ‘n Roses series followed, the results of a similar cross. These are huge plants with outward-facing flowers sometimes reaching nearly two feet tall and sitting above very large and very dark green leaves. These new series are continuing a long tradition of innovation in hellebores that continues to greatly benefit the gardening world. Even more recent breeding work has introduced beautiful mottled leaves to the Ice ‘n Roses series with a range of cultivars all with “Marble” in the name.
The stemmed or snow roses are usually listed as zone 5 hardy. However, gardeners are having success in zone 4 where they are protected by a good mulch of fallen leaves and good snow cover.
The Frostkiss series offers a range of flower colours atop beautifully mottled foliage.
The Ice ‘n Roses series offers the largest of all hellebore hybrids with huge leaves and large flowers that can bloom on stems to 1.5 feet tall. The leaves are solid very dark green. However, new breeding work is bringing us the marbled Ice ‘n Roses cultivars with mottled foliage like the Frostkiss series.
The Lenten Rose
The Lenten rose, Helleborus x hybridus, is the last group of hellebores to bloom. In coastal BC the buds usually form in late January opening usually in mid to late February. Flowering continues into April and sometimes May.
In colder zones the Lenten roses will bloom in early spring after the Christmas and Snow roses. Helleborus x hybridus is usually listed as zone 5 but many gardeners in zone 4 have been having success with a good mulch of fallen leaves and good snow cover. Some gardeners are even blooming Lenten roses in zone 3! Our former production manager now lives in Winnipeg where she successfully grows and blooms Winter Jewels hellebores. In fall she mulches the plants with a deep pile of fallen leaves and then places an upside down styrofoam cooler over top of them. Then, through the winter she shovels snow off of her patio over top of the hellebores creating a deep insulating mound. In the spring she is rewarded for her efforts with beautiful flowers.
A beautiful pink Lenten rose at the Miller Botanical Garden in Seattle surrounded by the blue flowers of Omphalodes verna.
A close-up of a luscious grape purple Lenten Rose at the Miller Botanical Garden in Seattle.
H. x hybridus offers the largest colour range and the most diverse flower forms of all hellebores with nearly every colour of the rainbow and single, semi-double, and double forms. Most Lenten roses are grown from seed strains which has the benefit of producing an incredible diversity of flower colours and patterns – even within a single strain – that are well worth collecting. There are other cultivars that are tissue cultured so that every plant is identical.
Double hellebores from the Winter Jewels and Wedding Party series offer early spring confections for the garden.
Single hellebores from the Winter Jewels and Honeymoon series offer a diverse range of colours with their lovely, simple, five-petaled form. Some are semi-double or anemone centred with a ruffle of small petals at the centre of the flower.
Cultivation
Hellebores are easy to grow in most garden situations. They prefer evenly moist but well-drained soils but are tolerant of drier conditions once established. An annual top dressing of two to three inches of compost in winter or early spring is all hellebores really need for fertilizer as long as you’ve started with reasonably good soil. You can also fertilize with an organic fertilizer or a conventional slow release fertilizer. There are two times of the year when you should fertilizer hellebores. The first is towards the end of the flowering period when plants begin to grow new foliage and plantlets within the clump. Fertilizer at this time will encourage strong new growth and bigger, fuller clumps. The other time to fertilize is in the fall. In September and October hellebores begin to initiate buds deep down in their crowns. Fertilizer at this time of year will encourage more flowers in the winter and spring.
Helleborus x hybridus can be grown in full shade but will grow the fastest and have the most flowers in part shade to part sun. A situation with morning sun is ideal. Where the soils are rich and evenly moist, these hellebores can also be grown successfully in relatively full sun though protection from the hottest sun of the day in the afternoon is advisable. The stemmed hellebores such as H. foetidus, H. argutifolius and the hybrids x nigercors, x ballardiae, x sternii, and x ericsmithii as well as the Frostkiss and Ice ‘n Roses series prefer more sun and do best in part to full sun situations. If not given enough light they can become floppy and will require staking. They could also be shorter lived if planted in shade.
The nodding flowers of Lenten roses have beautifully coloured and often detailed petal reverses. Even though you can’t look into the face of the flowers without lifting the flower upwards, the plants still produce a beautiful display in the garden.
At blooming time, many gardeners will remove last year’s leaves from the H. x hybridus types so as to see the flowers better. The plants do not require their leaves to be removed. It is an aesthetic choice. However, removal of the leaves might help to decrease the incidence of pests such as aphids and fungus, if these are an issue. Normally, it is best not to remove the leaves of young plants since the leaf is photosynthesizing even in winter and spring and making the plant stronger. Once plants are established, the foliage can be removed each spring if desired. Established plants won’t even notice the loss of their leaves. In the case of the stemmed hybrids and snow roses, the foliage is usually not removed at the time of flowering, unless it has been damaged in the winter.
During the Hellebore Hurrah! Opening Week every year we offer 70-100 different kinds of hellebores plus lots of early season perennials, bulbs, and shrubs. Mark your calendars!
Pests: Hellebores are usually problem-free in the garden. The older flowers and new growth can sometimes attract green aphids. These should be washed off with a jet of water from the hose or sprayed with an environmentally friendly insecticide like insecticidal soap or a formulation containing pyrethrins such as End All. Aphids secrete a sweet honeydew and if left too long it can become a site for fungus such as botrytis and sooty moulds. These can also be washed off or leaves can be removed. Aphids are also thought to be a vector for some viruses affecting hellebores. These viruses are not common but it’s best to remove aphids when they occur. Slugs will sometimes visit hellebore flowers. Use an environmentally friendly bait such as Safer’s Slug Bait during the flowering season.
That’s all you need to know about hellebores to be successful in your garden! Go forth and plant!
At Phoenix Perennials we offer 70-100 different hellebores every year. They are available for pre-order through the winter in the Hellebore Hurrah! Pre-Order with plants ready for pick-up or Canada-wide mail order shipping in March and April. You can also take in all the beauty of Hellebores each year at our Hellebore Hurrah! Opening Week which begins at the end of February or early March each year. To keep up to date on all things Hellebore, make sure to sign up to the Hellebore Alert.
Give Your Garden the Phoenix Perennials Touch:
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