Hellebore, Lenten Rose, Christmas Rose

Helleborus

Hellebores are shade-tolerant plants that I've gotten progressively more excited about over the past couple of years. They've been a staple of shade gardens in Enland for ages but are only now becoming known to gardeners in North America. The genus has several garden-worthy species blooming in a variety of colors. They grow well in neutral to alkaline soil which is what we tend to have in this area. I've planted several different species and cultivars that I'll be adding to this page as soon as I get some decent photos of them. Bloom time tends to be late winter or very early spring so they provide some interest when little else but some early bulbs and spring ephemerals are around. I'm hoping to add some of the white, yellow, red and purple-black flowered ones to my garden soon.

The first Hellebore I ever purchased was H. purpurascens. Due to ongoing construction it had to be moved a couple of times within a few years and I think that was what probably led to it's final demise this past summer. Even though it wasn't a large plant, it managed to send up a bloom stalk each spring. As you can see in the photo, it had medium grayish-purple flowers. They really were nice, eventually fading to an even green color. I intend to purchase the next one I come across and treat it better this time.

The plant to the left is H. niger which is called Christmas Rose. As you can see, it has white flowers and I'm pleased to announce that this winter was the first year it bloomed and was indeed flowering on Christmas day. This particular plant has grown moderately for me for several years but has never really taken off like my H. orientalis has.

H. orientalis or Lenten Rose, pictured right, is a wonderful plant with thick, deeply-lobed and sharply serrated leaves that are dark and shiny. The clump shown here is now about twice as big as it was when this photo was taken. The flowers are sort of a chartreuse color and the buds actually start emerging at the base of the plant around the middle of January. By the time they're in bloom the leaves usually are so sunburned and bad looking that I like to cut them all off.

Buoyed by the success of my H. orientalis, I purchased another and was pleased to see that its blooms were cast with a medium purple. Since then I've added several hybrids to my collection.

This is one of the seed-grown "Sunshine Strain" hybrids. With seedlings you don't really know what you're getting until the plant flowers but named strains like this usually have some pretty outstanding parents. I was fortunate enough to find this one in bud in a nursery so I knew at least it wouldn't be another green one. I've also been lucky enough to find a nursery in England that ships divisions of flowered plants so I was finally able to order a black-flowered plant. I'm really looking to seeing that one bloom.
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