Caring for Helleborus × hybridus  (Lenten Rose)

Helleborus x hybridus grows best in partial to full shade, where it provides attractive color, texture and form.

Lenten roses are the easiest Hellebores to grow, preferring an average to rich, well-drained soil with plenty of added compost. In hot summer regions, the plants prefer the shade of deciduous trees, but where summers are cool they will tolerate a fair amount of sun.

Hellebores are easy-care plants. Aside from giving them a shady spot in compost enriched soil, all you need to do is water them through dry summer periods.

Although the foliage is evergreen, winter conditions make the leaves rather tattered by spring. The flowers appear at the first signs of milder spring weather, so prune all the old leaves to the ground in late winter, so the blooms and new leaves look their best.

Use gloves when you cut Hellebores back because contact with the leaves can cause mild dermatitis in some people. Fortunately, it's this same characteristic that keeps these perennials off the menu of hungry deer.

Choosing Hellebore cultivars for your garden

Most Lenten Roses are commercially propagated from seed.

Even specially-bred color strains do not come 100 percent true, so it's best to buy plants in bloom if you're after a specific form or shade.

Established clumps will often produce lots of seedlings on the ground below, which appear in early to mid spring.

If you want more plants, move the seedlings to a new location while they still small; otherwise the leaves of your existing patch will smother self sown seedlings.

Your young seedling plants may take two or three years to reach blooming size. Don't be surprised if they flower in shades that are different from the parent plant, since cross-pollination by insects usually means that each seedling is unique.

You can divide mature plants in spring or fall, but they are slow to recover. It can take a couple of years for divisions to bounce back and flower well again.

The Lenten Rose is a great Hellebore for beginners. The beauty of its long-blooming flowers, easy-care nature, and the fact that it thrives in low light makes this one of the most rewarding shade perennials to grow.

* adapted from http://www.flower-gardening-made-easy.com/2005-perennial-plant-of-the-year.html