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It's deep mid-winter and many gardeners are tucked inside out of the cold. For those who venture out there are treasures waiting in the garden.
Winter flowers - they are special and very beautiful, none more so than the hellebores. These are the darlings of the winter garden, and their fans soon become addicted to their subtle charms.
The hellebores are in flower in most districts in June or July. They bring a brightening of the day with their nodding heads of cream through rose and deepest maroon and almost black. Those with pale green flowers have a special beauty all their own.
The genus Helleborus includes some of the most fascinating, and quietly beautiful of plants. The flowers, mostly actually sepals, cheer the garden in winter and the beautiful leaves, often deeply cut, will add great foliage contrast and interest throughout the year.
Helleborus niger
H. niger (the 'Christmas Rose' because it flowers in the depths of the northern winter, although generally not until after Christmas!) is one of the earliest to flower. Some dazzling hybrids have been bred from it. H. 'White Magic' is a New Zealand raised hybrid.
H. 'White Magic'
'White Magic' has pure white flowers. These are striking and have a definite place in your planting schemes, although some gardeners feel that they lack the subtlety and charm of many of other hellebores. 'White Magic' does not form a substantial plant, as does H. orientalis and its hybrids, the leaves deeper are lower and overall the plant is smaller. For a mass effect - plant more!
Helleborus orientalis
Most gardeners are familiar with the H. orientalis hybrids as these are the mainstay of many winter and spring gardens.
Try these versatile and pretty plants in under deciduous trees where they will bring colour during the winter months. The Christchurch Botanic Gardens has an area under a grouping of maples which has dozens of H. orientalis flowering - it is a simple and quite beautiful scheme. If you have a small garden or even a courtyard you can replicate this with two or three H. orientalis under a deciduous tree or shrub, or even under a shrub rose where the bright red hips will add even more colour.
Often you can find a lovely plant as an unamed seedling, so look twice at flowering hellebores for sale in the winter months. Sometimes these wonderful plants appear in your own garden.
There are many lovely hybrids coming onto the market - some are quite pricey so look carefully before you buy. H. 'Joy Bouquet' is a recent introduction that has glorious deep coloured flowers - there are many others. H. 'Moonshine' is another introduction that has wowed the hellebore world.
With H. orientalis it pays to get out into the garden in early winter and remove all the old tatty leaves. The plant will send up strong flower shoots that are more clearly seen and better appreciated without the tired old leaves. As the season progresses, new leaves will emerge. Don't think this is being fussy, it's easy enough to do on a clear day and it is one piece of garden tidying that pays ample reward.
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Photogenic and fascinating
For a great display, remove old, tatty leaves
Cultivation
- Hellebores require little care. They will grow in any reasonable garden soil, preferring those that are slightly alkaline to an acid soil, and are long-lived.
- Ensure that you prepare a good planting site by incorporating compost into the soil before you plant, as hellebores enjoy a moist soil rather than one that dries out quickly. Farmyard manures are good if they are well rotted.
- Plant in large planting holes, at least 40-45 cm in diameter and 15-29cm deep. Ensure that the plants are planted at the right depth (Rice & Strangman* recommend 2.5cm of soil above the point where the roots break from the crown of the plant).
- Removing the previous years leaves on H. orientalis hybrids in winter will allow you to see you plants more easily, and the old leaves are generally weather-battered and unsightly anyway. Fresh new leaves will emerge to set off the lovely flowers. This can seem a lot of work, pedantic and fussy but is truly worth it if you can manage.
- Most hellebores are hardy in winter conditions (H. lividus should be treated as somewhat tender).
Pests and Diseases
- Hellebores in the north and warm areas are prone to fungal attack. A dressing of dolomite lime in December helps to prevent this.
- New growth can suffer from aphids. Check on the flowers and under leaves as these appear. Squashing these with your fingers is the best defence, and leave the rest to natural predators.
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H orientalis
'Joy Bouquet' | |
