Lenten Roses – Helleborus x hybridus like to grow in an open alkaline soil in a semi- shaded part of the garden. Somewhere where they can enjoy the spring sunshine but not be baked by the heat of the summer weather. Equally, they do not like to be in deep shade as this will affect the flowering.
These plants are best bought from a specialist nursery when they are in flower. There is a wide range of colours in single, double and anemone flowers which will give great joy over the years. Hellebores are hungry plants and should be fed in the early spring with blood, fish and bone or a slow general fertiliser, such as Vitax Q4.
Remove the leaves in November, leaving an inch of stem intact. They can be prone to leafspot ,so don’t compost the leaves.
Deadhead your Hellebores by early May, unless you want to collect the seeds. This prevents unwanted inferior seedlings from popping up everywhere. Any seeds you want to use, should be potted up immediately.
The best way to move a Hellebore, is to dig it up in the autumn. To divide, split it up into large chunks as small will not survive.
ARTICLES
Many of them have been written locally over the years, but the following can be found On Line through:
- BBC Gardeners World – footage March 2015 (below)
- The Garden Supplement of the Saturday Telegraph – March 2013
- The RHS The Garden Magazine – February 2016
- The Country Life Magazine – January 2019
