Perennial Plant for 2005 - Helleborus

Jo Ann Graham ,Counselor and Past OAGC President

The Perennial Plant Association has named Helleborus x hybrids as the 2005 Perennial Plant of the Year. Until the last few years only discerning gardeners were growing hellebores. If you are not growing hellebores, they have a lot to offer for the shade gardener. They will bloom from winter to spring, are long-lived plants, have evergreen foliage, long lasting blooms, carefree maintenance, hardiness from zones 4 to 9, and are tolerant of cold, heat, and humidity.
Two new strains are now being offered to all gardeners. One new strain of Helleborus x hybrid is Royal Heritage. It originated in England where dedicated gardeners and hybridizers made thousands of crosses to develop more interesting brighter colors and better flower form. American breeders then made the new strain more adaptable to our hotter, drier climate. There are now enough plants for nurseries to offer them to the public. This new cultivar blooms for months in shades of purple, red, white, green, pink, yellow and near black. The plants are eighteen to twenty-four inches tall and spread three feet.
The second new strain is Pine Knot, a Wayside Gardens offering. This Helleborus is the lifework of growers Dick and Judith Tyler, who spent 20 years creating Pine Knot from rootstock from European and American growers. It has new flower colors that are definitely clearer and grows eighteen to twenty-four inches tall and spreads around two feet. The strain Pine Knot is said to be vigorous and easy to establish.
Hellebores like partial or dappled shade. They can take spring sunshine but not the more intense summer sun. They appreciate continuously moist soil, an annual dressing of manure and a mulch in the fall.
A big selling point for many gardeners is that most types of hellebores are poisonous, so deer and other animals keep their distance. It is said not even a slug will nibble the handsome thick leathery foliage. Not only do deer find this plant unpalatable but some gardeners suggest that a big planting of Hellebores actually seems to deter deer from exploring the flowerbed.
Hellebores are also favorites as cut flowers. It is suggested you cut the whole stem and wire the blooms as part of a flower design or cut the stem about an inch from the base of the flower head and float the bloom in a shallow bowl of water. The cut flowers last for weeks and gradually become papery with changing color. They would be excellent for late winter decorating.
If you have not tried Hellebores, look for these new strains and try them in your shade garden this year. Next winter, they may cure your winter blahs!

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