Hellebores

[Eric Hardy]

Just for curiosity I am just asking if anyone has experienced anything similar. For years, Christmas and Lenten Roses have not been too successful here, then we decided to try in the front garden and beneath our climbing roses we planted one very dark purpley black one and another greeny white one about three feet apart. They have been there about five years and simply love the position. The
white one in particular has seeded like mad and is spreading. What interests me is that there is a patch of greeny white ones near the parent plant but another patch has formed a little distance away in a pink colour, It looks like a cross between the the dark one and the white one. I have found that the seedlings don't like being moved but thrive left to their own devices.

Here is one of the greeny white ones with a self sown (slightly out of focus) self sown pink one behind





Eric H

[Palustris]

They seed themselves all over our garden and in every colour from dark green to plum. We even have a couple of doublles which have appeared. We do have doubles which we bought as well.
We have two outside the backdoor in a Gravel garden, one is pale pink and the other is purple. The nearest ones are at least 20 feet away, so how has the seed got there?
Now if only H. purpurescens would seed like that, or H. thibetanus!
Here are some of ours
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v172/Berghill/Hellebores/

[Eric Hardy]

That really is an impressive selection Eric! The double ones especially. (My namesake - I am sorry, I originally thought the reply was from George    (BTW I had to add an "h" at the front of your link  ) What intrigued me was that after 45 years of them not liking the back garden we discovered that they loved being in the front.

Eric H

[Palustris]

Glad you enjoyed them. Have added the 'h' now ta.
I find the self seeded ones hard to move and grow on myself and not had a great deal of success with the seeds either. They germinate well enough in Spring from an Autumn sowing, but they do not take to pricking out, either early or late.

[ideasguy]

I'm watching this with great interest, folk. I have a few H. niger in the garden, but I really MUST buy some of those in this thread.
Are they H × hybridus ?

Incidentally, the H. niger which does best is in the most obscure location, the ones in the showcase positions are huffy!
Thanks for your tip, Eric H, re moving yours from back to front garden where they did much better. It looks like these plants are pretty much site conscious. 

Another plants conundrum 
Another plant which does really well in my garden is/was Helleborus corsicus.
I think it is now known as Helleborus argutifolius which has the AGM (H4). Need to do some research 
I moved a seedling to another part of the garden and it self seeds freely. No hybrids unfortunately!
I also dug up and re-potted one for my sister. That one appears to be easier to "transplant" 

How did you acquire your plants in the first instance?

[Eric Hardy]

These were just bought from a small family run garden centre. I suppose in the old days it would have been called a nursery but it has a shop with all the usuals so I suppose that counts as a garden centre ..... very dull!!

[Palustris]

We began with a few from a Yellow pages garden near us. (no longer open, sadly the original owner died) and then we got some specials from Bridgemere GC. Cheshire and Farmyard Nursery in Central Wales. Daughter bought us 10 doubles from T&M last year and they have just begun flowering, the look ok. Otherwise they are self seeded and moved when needed with many losses. BUT when you get as many seedlings as we do 99 percent loss is still a lot of plants.

H. argustiflious is a real seed weed for us almost as bad as H foetidus.

[ideasguy]

I have to say I like it. Nice foliage and the flowers are good wioth other plants. No weed comlpaints (yet)! Hope that continues!

[JeanV]

I am back after a break so excuse me if this post repeats what has been said! I love Hellebores but in Mid Wales it is very wet and they do well under my oak tree but in a raised bed. I find in pots or raised bed they thrive but I have heard talks from fok who get seedlings but I never seem to manage it!

I went to an amazing display at Farmyard Nurseries in  their weekend show : brilliant and a wonderful nursery. It is a long way from most places but a lovely drive,

I find there is no rhyme or reason where they thrive. In Bolton I had a patch that were in bright sun for part of the day, and really in the wrong place but they grew bigger and bigger.

I have found the doubles are less hardy and as it often goes down to -13 here in winter that is something to consider,

This year they are all doing well.
Jean

[Eric Hardy]

Hello Jean, that is interesting. All the time we were trying them to get them to grow in the back garden we were choosing places we thought they would like, but no they didn't. This last attempt was in the front garden at the foot of a climbing rose trellis, on a slight slope  where they get full sunlight from midday onwards.

Eric H

[JeanV]

All the speakers I have heard on Hellebores say the Niger Christmas Rose is the hardest to grow.  Most of mine are hybridus I think which I THINK means they are from seed does it? THe other thing Elainre Horton said in her talk this week was that to get the colour right you have to buy them in flower as the colour varies where you put it so you then cannot tell if you bought it right or not. ( THat is a terrible sentence! I hope it makes sense!)

If you visit Chirk Castle they have the wild ones growing round the edge of the woods and I have seen them wild here as well.

It is the l ength of flowering this year that has amazed me. I think the yellow ones of mine have been in flower for well over a month possibly longer.

Jean Vann

[Eric Hardy]

I think that is right about the purple-black one, Jean. I do not know whether it is a true Niger Christmas Rose but the clump is much smaller and took a long time to be anything more than one solitary plant. The yellow-green one has spread like mad and the hybrid pink ones, if that is what they are, are also spreading. To my delight, for the first time I have noticed a few tiny seedlings under the Niger. We must nurture them. At my age it is very difficult to get low enough to get a good shot of them, so I am showing you a picture of a bowl of heads on our dining table. There are a couple of the dark ones, three or four of the original light ones and some of the pink newcomers as well. The dark ones seem darker in actual practice than in the photo.



Eric H

[Eric Hardy]

Just a progress report. I took these flowers yesterday (2nd April) and I am almost certain they have been flowering since January and are still going strong. They are certainly lasting well. For some reason they seem to be lifting their heads more now making them easier to photograph.

[ideasguy]

There are some gorgeous colours in that bowl of flowers you posted, Eric and I love that one youve posted yesterday.
Great photography 

Thats a very impressive flowering period, at the time of year when theres not much else. Makes them invaluable.

I have two Hellebores, bought as H. niger, just coming into flower. Photo later.
I think those are Lenten roses. They didnt wake up in time for Christmas!
The late ones are in a more sunny place. One in a more hidden place flowered more than a month ago.