Hellebores blog

Hellebores: Cold-Weather Color

As winter settles in, I begin to look forward to the colorful display that will come from one of my favorite cold-weather plants—the beautiful hellebore.

Flower farmers and home gardeners love hellebores because they bloom in the cold months of the year. Planted in the spring or fall, they provide lovely midwinter, late-winter or early-spring color in gardens and floral arrangements—and who wouldn’t love that? They naturalize and spread each year, bringing even more life to sleeping landscapes and gardens.

Hellebores are also known as Lenten rose because they bloom during the Christian season of Lent, typically starting in late February. However, flowering can begin anytime from January to May, depending upon your garden zone.

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Hellebores can be single or double flowering, and they come in shades of white, pink, red, purple and yellow. What’s more, the blooms on these exceptional plants can last six to eight weeks, if not longer.

The key to a long vase life is to harvest hellebores after they’ve formed a seed head. If you harvest them too early, they’ll just be droopy, short-lived baubles in your floral arrangements.

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Hellebores are the quintessential woodland-garden plant. They prefer to grow in part to full shade with rich, well-drained soil. And they’re right at home among ferns, hostas and astilbes. Plus, they’re deer and rabbit resistant!

Once established, hellebores are extremely low maintenance. If you wish, you can enhance the beauty of their blooms by cutting back old foliage just as the flowers emerge in midwinter, although this is not a requirement. As for dividing, hellebores seldom need it; however, if you see a few seedlings emerge, you can certainly dig them up and transplant them somewhere else.

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When I purchase new hellebores, I love bringing them indoors to enjoy for several days. I just tuck them into a vintage vessel or crock for safekeeping until I’m ready to plant.

I hope today’s blog post encourages you to plant a few hellebores throughout your garden. When the cold days of winter arrive next year, I’m sure you’ll be thankful you did!

Happy December Gardening!
Pamela Anthony
Beehind Thyme Farm & Garden