Use

Helleborus can be used in many ways. It has great value as a perennial groundcover in the garden. In Europe a flowering helleborus is cherished at the Christmas season. It’s beauty can be enjoyed indoors for some time. Keep the plant in a cool place while in the home, but plant it as soon as possible into the garden for years of carefree enjoyment. Helleborus are very strong perennials that bring flowers to the winter and spring garden when typically there are none to enjoy.

Helleborus flowers can also be used as cut flowers. The flowering species such as the white H. niger are very popular in cut flower arrangements. The foliage can add texture to arrangements as well. The flowers must be mature when they are cut from the plants for arrangements. The flowers do enjoy a cool setting. These flowers have tremendous shelf life.

Cultivation

Consider some of the plant’s needs when positioning in the garden. Helleborus enjoy the shade as well as a semi-shade area. Avoid full sun. The plants will flower best when in a semi-shade area.

Deciduous bushes can be planted in a sunny garden to generate half shade for Helleborus.

Helleborus can be planted with a wide variety of appealing landscape plants. It is evergreen and makes a great groundcover all summer long into the fall. Keep in mind as you plant them that you most likely will enjoy these flowers in the late-fall, early winter, late winter and early spring. Planted under a dogwood tree in a solid zone 6 winter hardy zone the flowers of Green Corsican and Silvermoon began to peek under the foliage in late February. By March and April they presented quite a show. The flowers remained on the plants well into May. In zone 6 the HGC Christmas Rose can begin showing flowers in November. They will continue to greet garden visitors into the winter and spring.

The same show was created in a solid zone 5 location in Cornell, Ithaca. It is colder there so the show started later and ended later. These same varieties have survived the heat of Ft. Myers, Florida and flowered there as well!

The Helleborus Gold Collection® and Spring Promise® series are versatile!

The garden soil should be well drained and rich in humus. This allows for the nutrient needs of the plant. One can work peat moss and sand into the garden to support the needs of the plants. Helleborus prefer a basic soil. The pH value can be increased by adding calcium carbonate or crushed eggshells. The pH can be lowered by adding peat moss.

Dig the hole for your helleborus twice the size of the rootball you will be planting. Add your enriched media and plant into this new media. This allows the roots a good environment to grow into easily and to get well established quickly. Be sure not to plant the new plant too deep. The soil ball should be planted level with the garden.

In the early planting, do not allow the plant to wilt or stress for water. Be careful not to overwater as well. Good drainage is a must! Once the roots grow into the established garden soil they will need little care. Watering will be necessary only in the hottest weather patterns of the summer.

If the gardener follows these simple guidelines you will enjoy these plants for years. They will not need pampered. Fallen leaves, organic matter, earthworms and many other eco-partners will protect the helleborus for years. Once established, the gardener can sit back and enjoy!