Hellebores are actually the first flower to appear in my garden but they are a bit of a slow burner and (in my opinion) don't actually reach their full glory for several weeks after first appearing. The first hellebore flower appeared in January, and in mid-March they are still going strong and making an impact, even though they are now competing with narcissi, muscari and primroses.
The varieties in my garden were here when I arrived, purple, white and some pale purple and all clumped together - I've since separated them - they do well in shady spots so I've moved them to the side of the garden sheltered by the fencing. They're easy to dig up and replant - the roots are compact and loose and the plants seem to suffer no harm from being moved.
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| Helleborus (unknown variety) |
They self-seed incredibly easily, in fact the areas around the mature plants are dotted with babies - they are almost weed-like in their proliferation. The tiny black mustard-like seeds are easy to collect. I usually just weed the offspring out - but as we are probably moving this year I am going to nurture a few of them to take with me - although I won't be sure of their colour pedigree until they flower.
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| Helleborus (unknown variety) |
To allow the flowers to really stand out, I cut back all the previous year's evergreen foliage to ground level once the flower stems have reached full height. The foliage is usually starting to look a bit tired and ragged by then anyway. It doesn't seem to hard the plants - new foliage re-appears every year.
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| Helleborus (unknown variety) |
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| Helleborus (unknown variety - white) |
As is the rule for 2014, here's a
squidcam macro shot of one of my hellebores.
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| Helleborus - close up of stamens using squidcam macro lens |
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