Growing and Maintaining Hellebores

Hellebores are incredibly popular winter garden plants, with selected forms highly prized by collectors.  We work with a few specialist breeders to bring high quality, garden worthy cultivars to you providing great colour, health and vigour.

Essentially, there are two types of Hellebores, those which flower on top of their foliage (terminal or caulescent) and those that produce separate flower and leaf stems from a rhizome beneath ground level (acaulescent).  The most popular species and cultivars grown in gardens are usually acaulescent, with examples including H. niger (Christmas Rose) and H. x hybridus (formerly H. orientalis - The Lenten Rose).  H. foetidus H. x sternii and H. argutifolius are good examples of caulescent Hellebores with flowers appearing at the top of evergreen stems.

It is often a good idea to remove the foliage of acualescent species and cultivars in late autumn so that you can best view the flowers during the winter without them being hidden by leaves.  Obviously cutting the stems of caulescent species and varieties will result in no flowers that winter, so any pruning is typically undertaken in spring to encourage new growth from the base of the plant.

While they will grow in a surprising range of conditions, Hellebores do best open, 'woodsy' soils that have good drainage and are rich in composted bark or leaf mould.  The better a soil is prepared, the better your plant will be, so it is well worth that little extra attention to soil improvement prior to planting.