Helleborus - what is it doing?

Great letter!!!!

I have two two cents worth. I order seed from chiltern's on a yearly basis and the seed arrives VERY fast -- usually within the week of mailing.

secondly -- jump at the offer of the paper catalogue. it is a horticultural treasure trove. i keep all my old ones.
M

That's great advice. I will get that catalog, post haste!

P.

I just joined this site. I am already excited. I just purchased 3 Helleborus plants this spring in Cleveland, Ohio at their botanical show. First saw them at a customers home, and have been in love with them ever since. Kim

hortensia, thanks for the info from chilterns, i too have sent in a catalog request and spent more time than i should spare on their website.

Do you know if the hellebore seed is open-pollinated?
I heard David Culp speak at a hellebore seminar and according to him the male (or incoming pollen) determines color, the female the shape. since his lecture i've become much more efficient at doing my own crosses but it will be awhile before i have blooms to test the theory. Do you have any thoughts on this?
mcgina

Welcome to DG, Kim! That's where I got my helleborus!! I'll bet we were standing side by side buying them and we didn't even know it. LOL.

Here was a good webpage with information and good pics


Ashwood Nurseries

woops...meant to post a link to...
http://www.ashwood-nurseries.co.uk/hellebore.htm

Mine is still sending up new shoots! YAY!!

Yes, same here! My first experience with hellebores is proving most exciting! So cold, wet, and nasty out now, and they're loving it. I have a feeling I'll soon be hunting every variety I can get my paws on!

This is my first season with them too. I saw them at the New York Botanical Garden and fell in love not only with the plant, but when if flowers!! Can't wait to see how it performs!!

My mom has one and she said hers blooms in February. How wonderful that will be when I'm so sick of winter by that point!

Agreed!!!!

oh oh, you're all going to be as besotted and obsessed as i am in no time

in the dark days of January, nothing is more restorative than the sight of hellebores, budding, showing color, and blooming...for me it's often the only reason to get out of bed few plants offer as much to gardeners: low maintenance, year round interest, resistance to pests, and that glorious light in the middle of winter’s dark tunnel.

let's keep each other posted as blooms begin, it will be interesting to see the differences in different zones. this past year everything was really early for me, i had buds showing color in december and was harvesting seed by april

and to those of you just beginning - the first time it gets really cold, 20's, don't panic if your plant flops over (can't remember the more scientific term for this) it's a protective reaction to the low temps and the plant will pop back up as it warms up, it does not need water. I have seen mine flop and pop daily when temps get back up to 30-40) or stay flat and looking like something i left in the fridge too long for weeks when we get a long cold spell

sorry if this is too long, i'm just so glad to meet folks who share this passion
mcgina

Oh, not too long at all; very informative. That's the kind of stuff it's so good to know (I would have paniced!).

I read about a green flowering variety that was said to start blooming in some areas in October and keep the blooms till April. It was taller, with flowers born in spikes. Do any of you know what variety that may be, and if it is that amazing? I can't remember where I read it, but the pic is burned in my mind. Would'nt a flower you could design fall mums and spring bulbs with be great! Neal.

Neal, I use euphorbia characias ssp wulfenii that way. It forms its flower buds in fall (not October, though) in great tall panicles; which bend over sometime in the early year like goosenecks; then straighten up and flower; holding the (greeny yallery) flower and subsequent seed pods (equally showy) until you get sick of them in may or june.

I love this and euphorbia robbiae; but e characias seeds and robbiae runs like a triple crown winner.

Helleborus viridus has green flowers ("pure and brilliant green" says Graham stuart Thomas) from winter he says, well into summer. alas I have never seen this. I do grow the corsican hellebore; which occasionally -- in the right spot -- starts forming its flowers in late fall. Not in time for mums though.

But I love it, wouldn't be without it.

here is an interesting link -- the pic below is from this; helleborus viridis flower http://www.bioimages.org.uk/HTML/T3066.HTM

Oh, that is exquisite.

oops, I spelled viridis wrong. up there, I mean. but the flower doesn't care. Pretty pretty,huh???
M

neal, that sounds like foetidus, see pic posted 10/12, but i've never heard of it blooming that early
hortensia, when do yours start? mine have lots of new leaf growth on a single stem and some have buds but i usually don't see blooms til december

Thanks for the great info! And H. foetidus is one I planted in spring (thinking it looked like the one I saw) and it looks happy. I think the Corcican hellebore must be addded to my list to-what a beauty!

hortensia, do you know how hardy that euphorbia is? It sounds so striking and I like euphorbias-such a broad and varying genus.

Neal.

McGina and Gemini_Sage - what zones are you? It doesn't show on your names...

I'm in zone 6, not sure about a or b. I'm in a somewhat protected area though. Need to figure out how to put my zone under my user name.?

Seems you have figured it out..good for you. It's nice to know what zone you are in so I can compare your results with mine.

Anita

Neal, the "official" sources say e characias and e robbiae are hardy to zone 7 -- I have planted them in Hope which is, again "offically" 6, and is in mountain shadow all winter. I don't set too much stock by zones -- as either guarantees or complete no nos -- there's only so many variables covered by absolute winter lows. If you have a sunny spot that drains well and is protected from (or can be shielded from) the worst of the winter winds; I'd give them a shot.

but I am a complete euphorbia nut.

or is that just a nut????
M

I've learned there are tons of variables with zones. When I lived 30 miles east of here, it was like gardening in the mid west in many ways. Flat land, hot and dry summers, and exposed to the worst of winter. Now I'm out of the Bluegrass and in the foothills of the Appalachians, so it's a whole new ballgame. Since I'm in a valley, with tall hills (could'nt quite be called mountains) to the north and south of me, it seems shielded a bit. I've had some zone 7 hardy plants return after 2 winters. So certainly worth a try. Thanks, Neal.

I planted 3 lenten rose plants into my west bed this spring. I am getting some nice new growth now. In Wisconsin we could have 40" of snow by Jan. Do I have to keep them dug out? The snow helps to insulate them from the 20 below zero weather. I see up at the top of this thread that Garden Geek (Kelly) wasn't sucessful in maintaining these in our climate. Any suggestions?

according to the maps i'm 7a, but there's this sinister yellow blotch around richmond that might bump me up to 6b

hortensia, when do your foetidus bloom?

i am also a euphorbia nut, and have robbiae running amuck but have been disappointed with wulfenii not making it thru the winter twice (i think robbiae would grow in a car trunk)
gina

McGina that was TOO funny --not least because Ithink you're probably right.

Especially my car trunk -- a van I carry plants around in. I am always reassured that it isn't dirty at all. Just soily.

I have trouble remembering when things START blooming; especially things like foetidus with showy buds and seed pods; but I know they are always colourful in February and on until I am sick of them (like euphorbia; but less so, cause I have no rooted (heh heh) objection to hellebore seedlngs.)

sounds like a catch 22 for you KristaJoy; either you dig em out and lose the plant to that 20 below, or you leave em covered, save the plant and miss the bloom. Maybe you need to make them an igloo -- you can peer inside with a flashlight!!!!

I love taking risks -- I just remind myself that (whatever strikes my fancy) costs less than a dozen cut roses that I KNOW are going to die.

M

do you know Dorothy Parker's poem about being sent "one perfect rose" in which she laments

why is it do you suppose,
they never send
one perfect limousine?
ah no its always just
one perfect rose.

Well

....one perfect hellebore may perish, i suppose
but satisfy the spirit more
than
......

M

hortensia - wonderful poem!!!!

kbaumle- i sent hb plants to my brother in Mass. and they were under 3 feet of snow and ice for weeks, when the snow melted the blooms emerged and the plants were fine, just bloomed much later having been in the dark for so long
if your plants are of good size and happy where they are i'd leave them in
mcgina

mcgina, you might have me confused with someone else. I've had no thoughts of moving mine. :-)

oops! it was kristajoy

That's okay! ;-)

I was out checking mine today, and I lost one of the old original shoots, but all the new ones from this fall look great, with one more new one sticking out of the ground.

Well, I came here searching for info on Hellborus (Hellbori?) and it looks like I found it! :)

My two year old plant is putting out healthy new growth right now, so I'm hoping for my first blooms this winter. It is planted under the Redbud tree, and I can see it out the window as I type this. If it blooms, it will be a very comforting sight come February.

One thing I got a little confused about; if it does bloom and produce seeds, will those seed start to sprout come March or April? Someone said something about "double dormancy" but I was a little confused about what that meant. Will I have babies to transplant next spring?

dear ceceoh, if your plant sets seed this spring they will germinate the following spring. sometimes a young plant does not set seed it's first year in bloom, but that first bloom is really exciting! also color and shape become more defined as the plant matures so don't be disappointed if blooms are small the first year

Help! My hellborus just went through a 16 degree night, and the new growth looks very limp and...well...frostbit. The old growth shows little change. Is this normal?

One of my new shoots looks pretty limp, but the rest of them look fine.

ceceoh- check my post dated 10/26, this is normal when it gets that cold
some new leaf growth will get buned but the bloom buds are safe, throw some leaf mulch on the crown of the plant
16 degrees-ouch i'm not hardened off yet

dear HB friends,
well the solstice, the holidays, and the photo contest have come and gone and i'm ready for spring.....and since i grow hellebores i consider it here, thank goodness!
what's happening in your gardens? my foetidus are starting to bloom and there are lots of flower buds showing on plants in the ground. I was astonished to find this bloom on an unprotected pot plant on dec.31, nothing else so precocious, but you can see its already dropping pollen!!!! (so of course i knocked it up) This is an anemone or semi-double bloom with enlarged nectaries, no label in the pot so i don't know how i did it or if it will continue to be such an early bloomer.
i hope everyone is well and warm, i miss this thread
mcgina

Wow - I have to go out and check mine. I will have to try to do that this weekend as it is dark by the time I get home from work.

Anita