Growing the Christmas Rose
Why this name
Some gardeners call it Christmas rose because in milder gardens than mine it blooms so early in the year that it might be blooming at Christmas. I know, Christmas isn’t an early blooming time, it is a late blooming time; but we will not quibble at small differences in timekeeping when we’re talking about such a delightful plant.
In milder climates, the Christmas rose is even an evergreen but in mine it tends to die to the ground or have ratty looking foliage after the winter ravages have taken their toll.
Naming This Plant
This plant has been a gardening favourite for a long time; the name Helleborus is derived from the Greeks – who gave us this wonderfully descriptive name – from elein meaning “to injure” and bora or “food”. “Injurefood” is a pretty clear way of saying, “Don’t eat this plant!” Our old friend Pliny tells us that Melampus, a physician living about 1400 B.C. used the plant as a purgative; this accounts for another older herbal name, the Melampode plant. I don’t think I’d want him to pay me a housecall.
How To Grow
I have my collection of Hellebores in humus-rich soil in the part shade. The soils in these areas don’t normally dry out during the summer due to the deep layer of leaf mulch that has accumulated over the years.
I’ve read that some authors recommend the Christmas rose for dry, shady areas but I can tell you from experience that if you put this plant in dry shade, it will languish and not flower very well but it will survive.
Do not bother to torture it by planting it in dry sandy soil under a large evergreen.
An evenly moist soil with a high humus level and part sunshine is the key to superior performance for this woodland edge native.
Propagation
I grew all my different Christmas rose varieties from seed because while it is possible to divide this plant, this is not a recommended propagation method.
The plant can just as easily sulk and die when disturbed as quickly regrow; it is for this reason that most nurseries grow their new plants from seed.
Once you have one plant, you'll discover it will invariably produce scads of seedlings.
Transplanting
While the adult can resent less-than-careful transplanting and division, this is not true for seedlings. Dig them and pot them up to share with friends.
When young, Christmas rose seedlings move readily and easily; it is only when the plant matures that it becomes a bit crotchety.
Pruning
I prune my plants first thing in the spring to knock back the old growth and allow the flowers to show off and strut their stuff.
You can prune in the fall as well if you don't want an "evergreen" look. Frankly in my cold garden, the plants don't really go "evergreen" more like "evergreeny-brown-splotchy" so a fall pruning down works just as well.
Plants to Look For
H. niger or the Christmas Rose is a classic garden plant that is well worth any amount of space in the garden. There are at least four major hybrid families: Blackthorn Group, Harvington Hybrids, Sunrise Group and the Sunset Group, available to consumers. There are a wide assortment of plant sizes (including dwarfs) as well as flower colours in these four families. It is hard to go wrong with seeds or plants with these names. Buy them in flower to make sure you're getting the rich color for your garden.
H. orientalis is the Lenten Rose and the most hybridized member of the family. There are simply more orientalis hybrids on the market than any other family and they come in a dazzling array of colors ranging from blues through yellows and pinks along with picotee bi-colored blooms. This plant crosses easily with almost every other member of the helleborus family and seedlings show great variation in color.
H. x sternii is another of the hybrids you’ll often see in seed catalogs. Although they are reputed to be tender, they’ve done well for me. This is another of the green flowering forms or green flowering with flushes of rose in the petals. My plants are blooming this spring for the second year and the blooms are bigger and rosier this year than last.
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What Others Have Asked
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when should I collect seed for sowing?
When is the best time to sow from my seed heads of Cheristmas Rose? What is the best medium for the seeds and seedlings?
Doug says seed should be collected ...
seeds on hellebore
my christmas rose has a lot of seedpods on them what should i do?
Doug says you can do nothing and allow the seeds to fall around the mother plant. They ...
Christmas and Lenten Rose plants are not blooming Last year, I was given transplanting of the Christmas and Lenten roses. I was looking forward to blooms this year. I have beautiful folliage but no flowers....
What to do with seedlings My lenten roses produce hundreds of seedlings around the mother plants. I would like to let the area fill in with plants, but it appears that they are ...
to cut back or not my christmas rose is just beginning to have new flower growth.but above it is 18ins.of last years green leaves.is it better to leave them on the plant ...
hellebore pruning I have several large Hellebore plants (in mid-Atlantic Maryland) that were ready to bloom but were cut back severely by a garden helper who did not know ...
Christmas rose
How does the Christmas rose protect itself at winter and summer
Doug says that it grows in the summer so it doesn't need protecting. Keeping it out ...
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