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Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,295
Registered: ‎06-06-2011

I was purchasing some spring plants at the garden center this morning and saw a plant unfamiliar to me called Helleborus. It has the most beautiful gray/purplish flowers on it and took my breath away. After reading up on it, I know where I will plant it in my garden, but I am wondering if anyone out there has had these beauties and how did they winter over? TIA ****

Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea-Robert A. Heinlein
Honored Contributor
Posts: 17,654
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

@pattypeep

They are perennial and like shady areas with partial sun. Some varieties bloom now (Lenten Rose) is one of their common names for those blooming now. There are varieties that bloom around Christmas (Christmas Rose/Winter Rose). Comes in pinks, whites and I believe pale yellows or creams colors. No relation to roses but are relatives in buttercup family.

☼The best place to seek God is in a garden. You can dig for him there. GBShaw☼
Super Contributor
Posts: 266
Registered: ‎06-13-2010

I love this plant.  It's a survivor.  Lenten Rose.jpgI've had one in my natural area for about 8 years and it surprises me every year.  I can see it from my kitchen window.  I worry as it seems to die in the fall, it's leaves all shrivelled and beaten up.  Then it comes back, year after year, the first of my plants out back to peak through.  There have been late spring frosts that killed part of it, but it recovered and it has kept growing, despite all odds.  Also called Lenten Rose, which is fitting.

Trusted Contributor
Posts: 1,309
Registered: ‎12-01-2012

Mine took a few years to bloom.  So long I had forgotten about it.  But, yes, they are hardy once established.  I have a Jack in the Pulpit I forgot I'd planted, too.  They are amazing Spring time surprises.

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 7,652
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

@pattypeep, my sister gave me one last year, no flower.  While we had a couple of warm days in Feb, I was cleaning up one of my beds and there it was in flower.  Lovely!  Hope it survives March which has been unseasonably cold.  LM

Trusted Contributor
Posts: 1,589
Registered: ‎04-18-2010

I am in upstate NY, zone 4-5 and they winter beautifully and I love them!

Honored Contributor
Posts: 10,620
Registered: ‎09-22-2010

I live in the PNW and they grow beautifully up here.  I am redoing my back yard over the next couple of years and I just added six new ones in the side yard. 

Respected Contributor
Posts: 2,522
Registered: ‎11-20-2013

 I have one that I got in the spring from the supermarket, sold as a potted "gift". After it finished blooming, I threw it into the ground in the proper location where it would receive partial shade and some full sun. It is well drained soil and in an unprotected area. Well three years later and it is outstanding.  It is now a mound of evergreen leaves about two feet across and currrently sporting the most beautiful pink cream flowers that have withstood the weight of snow.

Respected Contributor
Posts: 2,481
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

 I have a bunch of these and they are hardy and beautiful.  Pink, dark red, white and yellowish.    We donate some each year to a plant society. The flowers are kind of like a closed cross and each morning they pop open more like an open cross. I really do like the easy care of them.

 

doxie

New Contributor
Posts: 5
Registered: ‎01-31-2014

Helleborous are tough as nails with little care. I planted 6 under an old Pin Oak tree. They are absolutely beautiful this year. The only thing I do is cut back the old dried leaves after the news shoots come up in Spring. I have one white one that is big as a shrub.