Hells are heavenly
IT’S called the Christmas rose but this hellebore is likely to bloom in the New Year.
It will thrive in the right conditions – deep, rich lime soil in partial shade so splash out on a few varieties.
The shiny white, large-flowered potter’s wheel is one the best-known, but others will turn your head too if you remove old leaves. Favourites include white magic, which has lots of small, white blooms and the delightful sunset with orange-pink flowers.
These hellebores are fantastic for the front of borders. They also make great companions for deciduous shrubs such as seasonal witch hazel, camellias and mahonias, and the eyepopping blooms of early spring bulbs.
For a colourful garden, partner them with lilac crocus tommasinianus and snowdrops such as large-flowered Artkinsii and, to stretch the season, combine some with wood anemones in blues and white, and dark and pale blue scillas, dainty early daffodils, pulmonarias and primroses. Try some of these combos in containers to decorate your doorstep and to lift your patio out of the winter gloom.
Immaculate
Planting hellebores too deep can hinder flower production. Make sure the crown of the plant is just slightly buried beneath the soil.
Sprinkle 30-60g of lime around each plant after planting and before mulching with leaf mould, chipped bark or well-rotted garden compost and work. To help helleborus niger establish quickly, give it a dose of epsom salts.
Collecting hellebores can become an obsession, especially if you are interested in helleborus orientalis, the lenten rose, that flowers for Easter. This hardy vigorous plant comes in its natural form with creamy flowers (which are sepals that protect the true flowers), sometimes tinged pink.
Hybrid varieties range from immaculate white to slate black, with nearly every shade of yellow, apricot, pink and purple in between.
Some have reddish-purple spots and flowers may be striped, picotee-edged, dark-centred, anemone-centred, or petal-packed doubles, making them a favourite.