Hellebores recommended by our experts<\/h2>
Helleborus<\/em> x hybridus<\/em><\/strong><\/h3> $\"\"$
\u00a9 Rachel Warne<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Recommended by:<\/strong> John Hoyland, plantsman and former nursery owner<\/p>
Hellebores are very fertile plants and they hybridise with ease, as the the crop of seedlings that appears around them testifies. Most of these will have muddy purple flowers, but just occasionally you find a gem of a plant. This was one such, growing among a group of double-flowered and anemone-centred hellebores. A more reliable way to get results like this is to hand-pollinate your plants and sow the hellebore seed yourself. That this one appeared, with its frilly edge petals and soft pink flowers, with no intervention from me, makes it a one-off delight that I cherish.<\/p>
Helleborus<\/em> x ericsmithii<\/em> \u2018Bob\u2019s Best\u2019<\/strong><\/h3> $\"\"$
Helleborus x ericsmithii \u2018Bob\u2019s Best\u2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Recommended by: <\/strong>Derry Watkins of Special Plants Nursery<\/a><\/p>
A cross between Helleborus argutifolius<\/em> for its hardiness, Helleborus<\/em> lividus<\/em> for its leaves and Helleborus <\/em>niger<\/em> for its flowers. Unlike orientalis hybrids, this helleborus does not like rich woodland conditions. It revels in sun and drainage. It has fabulous outward-facing flowers held well above the leaves. They age from creamy white to pink to almost red; because each hellebore flower lasts so long all the colours may be visible at once. The evergreen leaves don\u2019t need to be cut to the ground \u2013 just remove tatty ones.<\/p>
Buy Helleborus<\/em> x ericsmithii<\/em> \u2018Bob\u2019s Best\u2019 from Cotswold Garden Flowers<\/a><\/p>
Helleborus<\/em> x hybridus<\/em> \u2018Yellow Lady\u2019<\/strong><\/h3> $\"\"$
Helleborus orientalis ‘Yellow Lady’ – \u00a9 Jason Ingram<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Recommended by: <\/strong>Chris Marchant at Orchard Dene Nurseries<\/a><\/p>
There are so many beautiful hellebores that I can\u2019t choose just one as a favourite, but this pale yellow hellebore deserves a mention. Usually unmarked, the flowers are occasionally speckled burgundy at the base of the nectaries. Upright stems hold the hellebore flowers proud of the foliage, giving a perfect opportunity to appreciate their long-lasting display. The colour is especially effective teamed with the purples and blues of a woodland border: I have clumps mixed with Pulmonaria<\/em> \u2018Blue Ensign\u2019 and the glossy spring foliage of giant colchicums.<\/p>
Buy Helleborus<\/em> x hybridus<\/em> \u2018Yellow Lady\u2019 from Bluebell Cottage Nursery<\/a><\/p>
Helleborus niger<\/em> Harvington hybrids<\/strong><\/h3> $\"\"$
Helleborus niger<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Recommended by:<\/strong> Mat Reese<\/a><\/em>This selection from Harvington Hellebores<\/a> has bloomed before Christmas for the past few years and produces little vignettes of sumptuous, white flowers, each blossom centred with a cluster of golden stamens. Although these hellebores have a reputation for requiring a limy soil, mine have been thriving in stony, humus-rich, acidic soil for some years. These hellebores do take time to establish, resent disturbance, and hate sitting wet. They\u2019re also gross feeders, meaning they are hungry plants and so need to be fed annually with compost.<\/p>
Buy Helleborus niger<\/em> Harvington hybrids from Twelve Nunns nursery<\/a><\/p>
Helleborus atrorubens<\/strong><\/em><\/h3> $\"\"$ <\/figure>
Recommended by:<\/strong> Hans Kramer, owner of De Hessenhof<\/a><\/em>In Slovenia, where it grows in the wild, this hellebore – seldom seen in cultivation – starts flowering in April but in the mild, unstable winters of northwest Europe it usually starts to flower in February. With so many hybrids now flooding European nurseries, it is refreshing to see the subtle charm of the true species. This is the only species where the petals, which are in fact sepals, hold their colour long after pollination. What’s more, it’s deciduous so you don’t have to worry about cutting leaves in the winter.<\/p>
Buy Helleborus atrorubens<\/em> from Ashwood Nurseries<\/a><\/p>
Helleborus x sternii ‘Silver Shadow’<\/h3> $\"\"$
Helleborus x sternii ‘Silver Shadow’<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Recommended by: <\/strong>Fleur van Zonneveld, of De Kleine Plantage<\/a><\/em>Among the slew of new hellebore hybrids and cultivars, all with fabulous colours, flower shapes and leaf structures, ‘Silver Shadow’ demands a special place. It has extraordinary flower \u2013 a mix of pink, green and apricot colours \u2013 that rise wonderfully against the silvery leaves with serrated edges. It is lower and more compact than many other hellebores and does very well in pots. Unlike most other hellebores, it likes a sunny, dry and alkaline soil.<\/p>
Buy the similar Helleborus<\/em> x sternii<\/em> from Crocus<\/a><\/p>
Helleborus <\/em><\/strong> x hybridus<\/i> white-flowered<\/strong><\/h3> $\"\"$
Helleborus x hybridus ‘ White Single’<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Recommended by:<\/strong> Mat Reese, head gardener at Malverleys<\/a>There are many hellebore hybrids to choose from \u2013 and I have quite a few of them in the woodland garden at Malverleys<\/a> \u2013 but my default is the white-flowered form with a green eye. Unlike the darker forms, it shows up well, particularly in shady woodland conditions. It has vigour and, if kept isolated from other colours, will self-sow true from seed. In the winter when the ground is too hard or too wet to work, cut out the tatty old leaves and feed with leaf mould so the flowers are displayed at their best. <\/p>
Helleborus<\/em> x hybridus<\/em> Harvington red<\/strong><\/h3> $\"\"$
Helleborus x hvbridus ‘Harvington Red’<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Recommended by:<\/strong> Polly Nicholson of Bayntun Flowers<\/a><\/em><\/strong>Outward-facing, saucer-shaped, flowers in varying shades from deep pink to clear red with deeply cut foliage. This hellebore makes a good cut flower once the seedheads have formed, especially if the tips of stems are seared.<\/p>
Buy Helleborus<\/em> x hybridus<\/em> Harvington red from Crocus<\/a><\/p>
Helleborus<\/em> x ericsmithii<\/em> ‘Winter Sunshine’<\/strong><\/h3> $\"\"$ <\/figure>
Recommended by: <\/strong>John Hoyland, plantsman and former nursery owner<\/em>Helleborus<\/em> x ericsmithii<\/em> has distinguished origins. Firstly, botanist Frederick Stern crossed Helleborus<\/em> lividus<\/em> with Helleborus<\/em> argutifolius<\/em> to produce the robust and attractive Helleborus <\/em>x sternii<\/em>. Sixty years ago plantsman Eric Smith crossed this with the large, white flowers of Helleborus <\/em>niger<\/em>. The result was a jewel of a plant with lightly marbled foliage and pink-tinge, white flowers. Thanks to micro-propagation, attractive forms of this plants can be reproduced easily. This one is vigorous and has dark green leaves with a pewter sheen. The flowers are ivory-white, turning a deep pink as they age.<\/p>
Buy Helleborus<\/em> x ericsmithii<\/em> ‘Winter Sunshine’ from Garden Beauty<\/a><\/p>
Helleborus foetidus<\/em><\/strong><\/h3> $\"\"$ <\/figure>
Recommended by: <\/strong>Hans Kramer, owner of De Hessenhof<\/a><\/em>Although this is the shortest living hellebore \u2013 it rarely lives longer than three to four years \u2013 I could not do without it. It is a good, all-round plant, starting with attractive, deeply divided leaves, which are a dark green. Some cultivars, such as ‘Sopron’, can have a silvery sheen to the lear, while Helleborus <\/em>foetidus<\/em> Wester Flisk Group has striking beetroot-coloured stems that contrast well with the pale-green flowers. These begin as rosettes, which tart to elongate as the weather gets cooler, then form light-green buds that gradually open over winter.<\/p>
Buy Helleborus foetidus<\/em> from Crocus<\/a><\/p>
Hellebore breeding<\/strong><\/p>
The flowers of Helleborus orientalis<\/em> used to be a dull pink but in the 1960s nurserywoman Helen Ballard extended the colour range to include dark pinks and white. During the 1970s and 1980s another formidable nurserywoman, Elizabeth Strangman, bred plants that had dark flowers or flowers that had dark-edged, petal-like sepals, which have become known as picotee (from the French picoter, to speckle or to mark with various colours). Strangman also collected seed from plants growing in the wild, and in Montenegro came across plants of Helleborus torquatus<\/em> that had double flowers, which she introduced into her breeding programme.<\/p>
Other plant enthusiasts continued to breed evermore beautiful hellebores. Robin White of Blackthorn Nursery focused both on double-flowered forms and on those with spotted sepals; at Ashwood Nurseries, John Massey and Kevin Belcher have produced an astonishing range of hellebores, in particular ones with strong colour on the reverse of the sepals. Hugh Nunn, who formerly ran Harvington Hellebores, has a breeding regime that produces seed strains consistent in their flower colour and vigour.<\/p>
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One of the latest links in this chain of hellebore breeders is Lorna Jones of Hertfordshire Hellebores. Her initial motivation was to provide great plants for her own garden, with an emphasis on tall, early flowering plants that were disease resistant. One of the most sought-after types of hellebore are the so-called anemone forms, plants where the nectaries are enlarged to form a ring of small tubes at its centre. Lorna has been able to produce anemone forms where these nectaries are the same colour as the sepals, others that have picotee sepals and, most dramatically, forms that have nectaries that contrast with the sepals.<\/p>
Some of the Helleborus torquatus<\/em> hybrids have double flowers and hark back to the first double that Elizabeth Strangman found growing in the wild. Their sepals tend to be narrow and twisted, so Lorna has christened them \u2018spider\u2019 hellebores.<\/p>
New hellebore hybrids to look out for<\/strong><\/p>
Here are some of the beautiful hellebores bred by Lorna Jones at Hertfordshire Hellebores.<\/p>
Anemone centre<\/h3>
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Helleborus x hybridus Purple Speckle – \u00a9 Rachel Warne<\/figcaption><\/figure>
The enlarged nectaries of Helleborus<\/em> x hybridus<\/em> Purple Speckle create a dark ruff at the middle of the flower, known as an anemone centre. The purple sepals are slightly pointed and are heavily mottled with dark purple.<\/p>
Raspberry red<\/h3>
$\"\"$
\u00a9 Rachel Warne<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Lorna is still searching for the elusive true red, and is in the process of selecting plants that have a red sheen on the petals. This seedling has lavender-pink sepals, which are packed with a contrasting raspberry colour. In addition to its colouring, Lorna has selected this plant for the rounded, open shape of its flower. This is Helleborus<\/em> x hybridus<\/em> Red Apricot.<\/p>
Spider hellebore<\/h3>
$\"\"$
\u00a9 Rachel Warne<\/figcaption><\/figure>
An unusual flower with several rows of narrow, same shaped flowers is one of the aims of twisting sepals to create what Lorna has dubbed \u2018spider hellebores\u2019. In this form the creamy-white sepals have a pale pink back. This is Helleborus torquatus<\/em> hybrid Spider Double.<\/p>
Double<\/h3>
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Helleborus x hybridus Pink Red Speckle Double – \u00a9 Rachel Warne<\/figcaption><\/figure>
A double-flowered form with pink sepals that are heavily speckled on the inside and have a dusky-pink back. The sepals are narrower than normal with slightly crimped edges that create a frilly flower. This is Helleborus<\/em> x hybridus<\/em> Pink Red Speckle Double.<\/p>
Picotee<\/h3>
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Helleborus x hybridus Pink Spotted – \u00a9 Rachel Warne<\/figcaption><\/figure>
A heavily spotted form that harks back to some of the earlier results of hellebore breeding. Unlike those, this plant has beautifully rounded, symmetrical sepals. This is Helleborus<\/em> x hybridus<\/em> Pink Spotted.<\/p>
Additional photography by Jason Ingram, Maayke de Ridder and Sharon Pearson<\/em><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n
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Growing hellebores in pots<\/h3>
As they are deep rooted, hellebores do not grow well in pots<\/a>. However it is fine to grow them in a pot for a season so that you can enjoy their blooms, then plant them out in the garden permanently afterwards.<\/p>

Dividing a hellebore<\/h3>
Dividing is the easiest way to propagate most types of hellebore. Divide after flowering in spring, or in autumn.<\/p>

When to plant hellebores<\/h3>
Hellebores can be planted from autumn to spring. They are often bought in flower.<\/p>

When to plant hellebores<\/h3>Hellebores can be planted from autumn to spring. They are often bought in flower.<\/p>

Dividing a hellebore<\/h3>Dividing is the easiest way to propagate most types of hellebore. Divide after flowering in spring, or in autumn.<\/p>

When to plant hellebores<\/h3>
Hellebores can be planted from autumn to spring. They are often bought in flower.<\/p>

Dividing a hellebore<\/h3>
Dividing is the easiest way to propagate most types of hellebore. Divide after flowering in spring, or in autumn.<\/p>