Symphytum and helleborus10/25/2022 ![]() ![]() Some will tolerate full sun or full shade. Plant them under deciduous trees as they prefer partial shade. Hellebores originated in Europe and Asia and are native to woodlands. Tissue culture hellebores are becoming available thus guaranteeing an identical plant. Some meticulous breeders have worked carefully to provide as much uniformity as possible but still best to buy a plant that is flowering. If you purchase a seed strain plant that is not in flower it is impossible to know exactly what you will get. Hellebore genetics is complicated so no two hellebores derived from a seed strain will be identical. Traditionally Helleborus x hybridus are derived from seed strains because hellebores bulk up slowly and resent division. The palmate leaves can be a smooth dark green, grey green, silver veined or silver and green with red veins. Many Hellebores now have outward facing flowers. Flowers can be single, double, star shaped or an anenome flowered form. Flowers can be white, green, pink, apricot, purple, yellow or black some with picotee edging, veining, speckles or spots. Recent hybridizing has improved colour range, flower shape and size, foliage and plant vigour. There are about 20 species of Helleborus but the most common are Heleborus niger, Helleborus orientalis and Helleborus x hybridus cvs, the Oriental hybrid hellebores. ![]() Plants vary in size but are generally 1.5’x 1.5′ Hellebores offer the first major burst of colour at the very start of the gardening season. Hellebores really are great, low maintenance, long lived perennial plants they have evergreen foliage, bloom very, very early, blooms last for several months and they are deer resistant. In addition they bloom very early and are past their best before most garden centres open. Until recently hellebores were not really popular plants, there was concern they wouldn’t survive our Northumberland ON winters and they often had downward facing flowers which were hard to see. My latest plant interest is Helleborus aka Lenten Rose. It seems being a gardener and a collector go hand in hand. ![]()
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