Hellebores in the Garden

Early spring garden is the time to watch for the hellebores and primroses to bloom in your garden.

I visited the Atlanta area this past weekend and what a joy it was to fly out of the snow and barely 90 minutes later to be in warm sunshine. My daffodils are up and growing, in Pennsylvania, and on warm sunny days they seem to grow an inch a minute! Alas that is at least four weeks behind the south where the apple and cherry trees are in full bloom, and tulips are blooming. Other signs of spring arriving in my garden are the hellebores and primroses. Both of these are early bloomers to give color to the late winter/early spring garden.

New varieties of hellebores are coming on the market each year giving variations in leave color as well as bloom color. Hellebores are also popular because the deer will not generally chew them to death and they grow well in the shade of trees. Most hellebores are also easy to grow and can happily survive neglect. Give them shade, a cool spot if you are in the south, and decent soil that is not waterlogged and your hellebore will give you years of joy. The two most popular varieties are the Christmas Rose (Hellebore niger) and the Lenten Rose (H. orientalis). H. niger is slightly hardier than the orientalis, surviving in zone 4 -8. Orientalis is only hardy to zone 5. There is also a fragrant hellebore (H. odorus) and a Stinking hellebore (H. foetidus). Both of these are hardy in zone 5 - 8. Plant hellebores along wooded pathways, and under trees. They will bloom from late winter (January in some areas) through March, which is a time when many of American gardens are still under a blanket of frost and snow, and in dire need of color.

©Text by Kate Copsey, March, 2006. Reproduction without permission prohibited.