Hellabores Today

Hellabores w/ Left Half Trimmed and Right Half with Last Years Leaves

Hellabores just after trimming (a little droopy)

Hellabores Today (3 Days after Trimming the old leaves)

Now that the plants in my garden have decided it is spring, I thought it would be nice to highlight one plant a week from my garden (zone 7a). To start this series off I would like to begin with the Hellabore.

Hellabore (Hellaborus, Lenten Rose, Christmas Rose)

Type: Perennial (Zones 4-9)
Light Requirements: Part Sun to Shade
Moisture: Moist to wet soil (prefer a well-drained soil)
Blooms: Early spring through end of spring. Comes in a variety of colors from white, to pink, to dark purple
Leaves: Stays green all year for me
Pros: Deer and rabbit resistant. Long flowering season (mine bloomed for about 4 months last spring)
Cons: They are fairly slow growing. I haven’t had any luck growing from seed or planting small seedlings. Larger plants tend to be a bit pricy (but at least you are getting a nice long bloom season)
Division: You can divide these as the clumps get larger (either after blooming or in the fall).

I planted mine about 4 years ago. They are doing quite well and have expanded to make a nice little patch. The one thing I learned about them recently is that you should remove last years leaves just as it is starting to bloom. I did that last weekend and it made a big improvement. The new stalks are standing tall today!