Would you be interested in a plant that blooms in the dead of winter, is evergreen and easily doubles as a ground cover? Just about perfect, right?
This near-perfect perennial is the hellebore. There are two types commonly found in garden centers and online plant retailers: Christmas rose and Lenten rose. Hellebores start blooming in February and continue into June. Despite the name, the plants are not related to roses.
Blooms Even in Snow
Hellebores are the answer to the shade gardeners’ question, “What can I plant besides hosta?” They are easy to grow and do well in dry shade. However, with a shaft of sun and a little water, they flourish. You can plant them and forget them, except, of course, to bundle up, go outdoors and enjoy the flowers. They even bloom in snow.
That said, plant hellebores where you can see them from indoors or near where you walk outdoors, such as to get the mail or to the garage. Most of them are in the range of 12 to 18 inches high and approximately the same in width.
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Evergreen Ground Cover
They self-sow a bit, mostly dropping seed where they are planted. This habit enables the plant to become an evergreen ground cover. The leathery leaves are palmate, or handlike, and sometimes tinged with purple.
Lenten rose hellebore is the most popular, primarily because it’s the most readily available. Lenten rose (Helleborus orientalis) blooms during the Christian Lenten season. These hellebores are hybrids, bred for colors, have speckles on their petals (called sepals) and large, upward- and outward-facing flowers.
Christmas rose hellebore (H. nigra) blooms a bit earlier than Lenten rose. The plants grow a bit tighter and easily withstand snow, which acts as insulation. These are sometimes considered more difficult to grow. They aren’t as vigorous as the Lenten rose.
See more: Houseplants Beat the Winter Blues
Spring Bulb Companion
Hellebores are wonderful companions to spring-blooming bulbs, such as tulips and daffodils. As the hellebore leaves grow, they camouflage the ripening leaves of the bulbs.
The perennial is a good cut flower, or snip the blooms and float them in a bowl as a tabletop centerpiece. Keep in mind that hellebores are toxic to humans, dogs, cats and horses. They tolerate deer browsing.
Popular series that include a mix of different colors are Wedding Party, Winter Jewels, Honeymoon, Gold Collection and Frostkiss. The Gold Collection can be found at Trader Joe’s, other retailers and garden centers.
Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp blogs at hoosiergardener.com. A popular speaker, read five-star reviews at greatgardenspeakers.org.
Great article, Jo Ellen. Don’t know why it’s taken me so long to recognize hellebores’ virtues, but I’ve started to take some of my hellebores that have spread from seed and transplant them where anything requiring much sun would have a hard time, specifically under the edge of upright evergreens that look bare beneath.
Great article! Do you grow them from seeds or actually plant the plants? When should they be planted? Is now good? I noticed Amazon has both seeds and plants. Garden stores are not readily available where I live nor is Trader Joe’s.