How to Care for Hellebores – plus my 7 favourites

At this time of year there are four plants doing most of the ‘floral heavy-lifting’ in my garden – snowdrops, crocuses, primroses and hellebores. The latter – which are easy to grow, undemanding and look good from January right through to May – have to be on my list of top plants. So, how to care for hellebores?

How to Care for Hellebores

The Conditions

I feel a bit of a fraud devoting a blog to caring for hellebores as I think they are relatively easy to grow. In the wild you will often see them at the edge of woodlands and I tend to grow mine in parts of my garden which are a bit woodlandy (scruffy and semi-shaded!). They like rich soil which retains moisture but they definitely don’t like a bog!

However there are hellebores which happily cope with full sun and some love full shade. So you can plant a hellebore anywhere in your garden.

If you have a slope in your garden, it may be a good spot for hellebores as the drainage will be welcome to them and the slope may make it easier to see the plant’s flowers, which can be a bit downward facing.

When to Plant

You will see garden centres full of hellebores in December through to February and you can plant them then. So long as the ground isn’t frozen.

But in reality you can plant them any time of year. So it’s worth keeping an eye out for hellebores in garden centre sales later in the season. You may pick up an absolute bargain! Of course you will have some months to wait for the flowerd. And buying a plant not in flower means that the colour of the flowers may not be quite what you’re expecting when they do arrive. (I think plant labels can be quite deceiving). But I think anticipation is a huge part of the fun of gardening, so I’d give it a go.

How to Care for Hellebores – Planting

When thinking about how to care for hellebores it’s important to remember that they are hungry plants and deep rooted. So before planting I dig the ground over with some compost, manure or leafmould. I throw in a handful of mycorrhizal fungi to get the roots going. Since researching biochar, I now also throw in a handfull of Carbon Gold’s biology blend before I plant anything!

In fact, I scattered some on my beds and borders when mulching them yesterday too! I’ve written a blog on biochar in case you want to find out more about it.

Feeding

Talking of mulching, it’s an idea to feed and mulch your hellebores in Autumn apparently, to keep them thriving. Be careful to keep the mulch away from the flower buds – you certainly don’t want to bury them as they will rot.

I’ve also read of people feeding their hellebores with fish, blood and bone in the Spring after flowering. If I have some lying around I may do that. A sort of ‘pat on the back’ for all their hard work. It will also give them a bit of pep for all the work that lies ahead, developing their roots, growing new leaves and buds etc.

Cutting Back Leaves

If untended hellebores can end up a mass of leaves, with their gorgeous flowers hidden out of sight. So any advice on how to care for hellebores has to include leaf cutting.

I cut the old leaves of mine back in January just as the new buds and growth are coming through. This keeps the plants looking tidy and stops your border being full of leaves. It also helps keep leaf spot at bay. This is a fungal infection that leaves unsightly brown and black patches on the leaves.

To minimise the risk of leaf spot, some recommend removing the leaves at the end of the flowering season. However, those familiar with my blog will know that I’ve got a real aversion to cutting leaves back early. This obsession with tidiness isn’t good for wildlife. I think it’s much better leaving leaves to provide shelter and food over Winter. I also think it’s good for a plant’s new growth to have the old leaves providing protection againt the elements over Winter. So I leave everything, and I mean everything, unchopped until January if not February.

That said, someone told me cutting back the leaves of hellebores in November makes it easier for emerging insects to find and pollinate the flowers. Mmm, maybe I need to rethink my hellebores leaf cutting regime and do an earlier (November) chop.

Cutting Back Flowers – Not For Me

When it comes to advice on how to care for hellebores, I’ve also read of people cutting back the flowers soon after flowering. Their logic is that hellebores are brilliantly adapted to cross pollinate. This means most of the seeds that fill the pods will be the result of cross pollination between two different parent plants. So any seedlings which grow are unlikely to look like your original.

All I can say is – get a life! I like the seed heads, look at these, they’re stunning. And if the little seedlings look a bit of a hybrid, who cares! I’ve yet to see a hellebore I didn’t like. Indeed, that cross pollination may mean that you end up with a unique hellebore growing in your garden. How magical is that?

Seedlings – Let Them Be, But Audit!

As a result of leaving the seedheads, I have masses of seedlings growing near my mother plants. Most won’t stand a chance of surviving as they’re competing in too small a space. So I dig them up. I may transplant a few to a new spot and see how they turn out. When I do this I put them straight in the ground, I don’t bring them on in pots.

It takes a baby hellebore about two or three years to flower. So you may spend quite a long time waiting for the plant, only to find that it turns out to be a bit of a muddy colour. But as I say, I still think they look charming. If you absolutely hate what grows you can always pull them up!

In fact I do a bit of a hellebores audit every February. I take a cold hard look at the hellebores I’ve got and decide if they’re looking as they should. It’s well worth doing this as hellebores are pretty chunky plants, with a lot of leaves. They can take up a lot of space so should earn their place in your borders.

How to Care for Hellebores – Propagation

Hellebores are best propagated by seed. Though, as mentioned, without a very controlled environment, there’s a distinct risk the babies will not exactly match the parent. You could end of with a bit of a murky coloured flower.

So to increase your stock of hellebores in a more controlled way you may try division. That way you will know exactly what you are getting. I’ve written a blog on how to divide perennial plants like hellebores, do check it out.

I have some gorgeous white hellebores in the semi-shady bed that have formed quite a clump. So I’m definitely going to do that this season.

A good time to divide your plants is just after flowering. However, with hellebores be careful as the plants start putting out new leaves in April. You don’t want to damage them when you are dividing your plant.

To divide them I dig deep with a fork to lift the plant (remember the roots go deep). Then, using a hand fork through the top of the plant, I tease the thick fibrous roots apart. An important thing to be aware of when learning how to care for hellebores is that they don’t like disturbing. So for that reason, I put the divided plants straight into the ground where I want them to grow. I don’t mess them around bringing them on in pots.

Equally for this same reason I don’t tend to move my hellebores.

So that’s it in terms of how to care for hellebores. All that’s left is for me to list some of my favourites…

Hellebores – My Secret Seven

Walberton’s Ivory Prince

I like this one for the shadowy colouring effect on the flowers and the blue green leaves with their distinctive veins. Also, unlike many hellebores, the deep pink buds open to bright white flowers that face up and outward from the plant, so you can really see them easily.

Credale Strain – Pink Spotted

I like my hellebores mostly white as their colour ‘pops out’ in the shady places where I’ve planted them. But this one has the added bonus of a gorgeous splash of deep red in the middle. They say it’s pink spotted but it’s quite a dark shade. It’s probably my absolute favourite!

Molly’s White

If you’re going to have a plant which produces lots of leaves, why not have one whose leaves look good. Molly’s White has lovely marbelled leaves and greeny white flowers, but dazzling yellow and green centres. So simple, so beautiful.

Credale Strain Picotee

My colleagues at work bought me this one and I love it! The people behind the Credale Strain of hellebores have thought about the way hellebores flowers nod facing downwards. To help combat this, they have cleverly bred their varieties so that the outside of the petals offer lots of interest too. This beauty is a classic example, lovely on the outside and inside too.

Christmas Carol

The classic pristine white hellebore – enough said!

Ice N’ Roses

If you want colour there are some lovely red varieties in the Ice n Roses range.

I also have this gorgeous pink and plum variety in my garden which is similar to Ice n Roses but different – but for the life of me I don’t know which one it is – sorry!

I hope this has given you a flavour of the possibilities which heavenly hellebores offer! Happy hellebore gardening.