“How to grow Oriental hellebores” says Anne
Plant hellebores for fabulously unpredictable blooms through winter, says
Winter can be long and bleak unless you happen to be a canny gardener. We stretch autumn to early December, enjoy the distractions of Christmas and new Year, then just when the prospect of another three gloomy months looms, our gardens erupt with winter flowering shrubs, snowdrops, winter aconites and the fabulous, often unpredictable blooms of oriental hellebores.there are 15 species of hellebores belonging to the buttercup family with their origins in europe and Western Asia. All have their place in the garden but the largest and most flamboyant are known as Helleborus x hybridus because they are hybrids between H. orientalis (the Lenten rose) and other species.
Few bear cultivar names because they breed so readily and germinate so happily in undisturbed soil, so they tend to be sold as communities of seedling plants.
Some gardeners control this by planting and encouraging individuals with certain traits, or they’ll isolate and pollinate parent plants by hand.
Should your plant throw up a fabulous hybrid, it is possible to propagate by division, so the results will be identical. However hellebores are not keen on being disturbed and may take two to three years to settle down and flower properly again.
new sections are either planted back into conditioned soil, or potted and then planted out when new roots have grown.
From pots you can plant hellebores at any time but they’re usually sold from late winter to spring, while they’re in bloom, so we can choose their flowers.
they like neutral soil to which plenty of organic matter has been added and thrive in sun or shade. if your soil dries quickly, a lightly shaded spot might be best.
they are happy to grow in clay soils as long as they are well-drained.
Dig a generous hole and set the root ball so the new buds of the crown are 1in (2.5cm) below the surface. From pots, plant so the surface of the compost is level with the soil. Water in well and mulch around the plant with well rotted garden compost, municipal compost, spent mushroom compost, or leaf mould and repeat at least once a year.
Most hellebores grow large with a impressive root system, so space them 30-36in (75-90cm) apart, filling the gaps with snowdrops, primroses and violets.