Okay, this is my annual obsessed-by-hellebores posting. Warning: the hellebore obsession is contagious. 🙂
Hellebores (aka Lenten rose) are the first perennial to bloom in the spring, which is reason enough to love them; mine usually start sometime in mid-March. They carry on blooming strongly for a few months, then mostly settle down to sturdy green leaves that look nice all through the summer and fall (unless you plant them in full sun, in which case they’ll likely shrivel and look miserable).
They love being planted under deciduous trees; I have most of mine under a redbud, and they’re very happy there. (Hm, it occurs to me that if I planted them in more sun, they might bloom longer, but then the leaves start to burn, so I don’t know. Experiment if you want.)
A lot of people don’t know about hellebores, because the traditional varieties have downward-tipping flowers, so they’re not so impressive looking. In recent years, breeders have come up with a lot of new varieties, some of which are a little more sideways-facing.
But if you really want to enjoy the glory of the hellebore, you want to cut some flowers and float them in a bowl. That’s the traditional way to do it, although you can certainly also use them as regular cut flowers too (maybe place them on a high mantel, so you can still see the flower details?).
They also don’t need any care, other than reasonable watering. If you want, you can go around in early March and trim off the old leaves, which will be looking ratty, but it’s not actually necessary. (I love doing it, though — one of my favorite garden jobs, sign of spring!)
So, why doesn’t everyone grow hellebores? Well, they’re expensive. They’re slow-growing, and if you start them from seed, prepare to be VERY patient.
Typically, people buy a nice-sized plant (usually around $25-$30, although Trader Joe’s does some of the less fancy varieties for about $15) and plant it (which I did with my first hellebore 15 years ago, when we bought our house).
In 3-5 years, it’ll have grown enough that you can safely dig it up and divide it. So you could then have 2 or 3 hellebores — OR, you can start trading varieties with other hellebore-obsessed people.
I usually indulge myself buying one new, interesting hellebore every spring (so I have about 15 varieties at this point). In recent years, I’ve started making art with them — I collect the full blooms every week, leaving the buds and half-open blooms, and then dry them for a week in floral dessicant (which is reusable — if it gets too moist, you can dry it out again in a low oven).
You can also press them, in the pages of a book, or a flower press, or a microwave flower press, etc. Pressed hellebores can be used for art like decoupaged greeting cards.
The ones dried in desiccant retain their shape, and I use them for a variety of resin art. (The resin I use is food-safe, but the serving boards will mark up if you cut on them, just like a wood cutting board would. And they are NOT dishwasher-safe — resin will melt in the dishwasher’s high heat, and could ruin your dishwasher, so hand wash only, please.)
I do sometimes buy some Trader Joe’s hellebores to put in pots in early spring, before I’m digging in the ground. Last year, I moved those into the ground, but I actually have enough of those varieties, so I’m going to just give them away in our local garden group.
So that’s my little hellebore obsession!
