Hellebores and Friends

Christmas Roses Planted in the Garden

Sue of “A Corner Garden“, which is a lovely blog, btw- I just love the picture of your garden and lovable dog, left a question on an old post… “Hellebore Happiness“. I wanted to answer and not have it lost in the ole blog “back 40”.

Sue wrote:

Hi Ilona,
I clicked on “hellebore” in your sidebar to find your post on it. I just discovered them in my sister’s yard when she moved. They didn’t all come back for her last spring, but I hunted and found different kinds at different places. I had to plant them where our grandson wouldn’t get to them. Some are in moist shady places. Others are in a raised built in planter in front of our house. It’s on the south side, but shaded from a large maple tree. The eave sticks out over them, so I have to water them. Whenever we don’t finish our water or coffee, I’ll toss it onto them. They do dry out from time to time. I am glad yours perked up after being watered. Mine just haven’t put much new growth on, but are starting to now. I am excited about that.

Did you plant the ones you had inside?

Hi Sue, so glad you came to the journal here and left a comment. I love comments.

It sounds like you are doing things right for your new hellebores, and since it is something of a drier area (under the eaves always is) maybe you could mulch them with a bit of compost. It would help protect them and build up moisture retentiveness in the soil.

Hellebores are known to take a little time to settle in… so I think we need to be patient with our new plantings :)

Why, yes, I did plant those indoor plants outside and they fared very well all summer. I just checked on them the other day and they look quite nice. Of course, this winter is the acid test- it is going to be colder than usual the almanac tells us. If they live through this winter I think I’ll have some prize plantings! I’ll also be able to tell when the “niger” type of hellebore blooms in this zone- I am fairly sure I won’t see anything during Christmas season. Already had the Lenten type and they bloom very early in the spring, but usually it is too cold for me to really go out and spend much time looking at them.

I think I will take some pictures of the new hellebore plants for my own records, though, now that I am thinking of it.