Dividing Hybrid Hellebores
Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is a retail nursery located in Bryn Mawr, PA, specializing in showy, colorful, and unusual plants for shade. The only plants that we ship are snowdrops and miniature hostas. For catalogues and announcements of events, please send your full name, location, and phone number (for back up use only) to carolyn@carolynsshadegardens.com. Click here to get to the home page of our website for catalogues and information about our nursery and to subscribe to our blog.
Spring Planting Issue 2006, Horticulture Magazine
Back when I was writing for gardening magazines, I authored an article for Horticulture on dividing hybrid hellebores. I suggested the topic because so many gardeners think hybrid hellebores are difficult to grow and wouldn’t think of dividing them. Nothing could be further from the truth: they are easy to grow and propagate by division.
Horticulture photo shoot in my woodland
Hybrid hellebores are an ideal plant with their large flowers, which are ornamental in the mid-Atlantic from February (and sometimes earlier) to May, substantial wintergreen leaves, and resistance to deer. For photographs of the full range of their colors, please read my article An Ode to Seed Strain Hellebores by clicking here.
Horticulture photo shoot at my potting bench
Reproduced below is my step-by-step guide to dividing a hybrid hellebore. You probably can’t read the fine print so I will narrate the high points to go with the photos.
Hybrid hellebores are expensive relative to other perennials because it takes three to five years for them to bloom. An economical way to increase your supply is to divide your own desirable plants. The method outlined below can also be applied to all species hellebores except Majorcan hellebore (Helleborus lividus), Corsican hellebore (H. argutifolius), and bearsfoot hellebore (H. foetidus). However, the most beautiful hybrid hellebore specimens in my garden are my large clumps that have never been divided. They are four feet across and have hundreds of flowers. I only divide a hellebore if it is so special that I can’t replicate it without division.
For your first experience with dividing a hellebore, select a plant with between five and ten flowers, older plants are too woody. I always divide my hellebores as they are coming into bloom because each flower represents a potential division. Insert your spade in a circle all the way around the plant and pry it out of the ground as shown in the photos for steps 1 and 2. Shake it to remove excess soil and then wash away the remaining soil to reveal the extensive root system as shown in step 3.
Before you attempt any cuts, please make sure you have a heavy duty knife that is very sharp, preferably with serrations on some portion of the blade. Hellebores have very extensive, woody root systems and dividing them with an inadequate tool can be dangerous. Make your cuts where you see natural divisions in the root system as shown in the photo for step 4, including some roots, woody rhizome, and flower stems in each division. For your first attempt, separate your plant into no more than three divisions.
Plant your new divisions in full shade to almost full sun. Dig the hole as shown in the photo for step 5 and mix the existing soil with an equal amount of compost before replanting. Firmly tamp down the soil, water well, and mulch with ground leaves. Although you should water until frost for the first season, hybrid hellebores require no supplemental water once established even in droughts. I never water or fertilize my hellebores, but I do apply ground leaves yearly.
These are some of the hybrid hellebores that I think are so special that I would consider dividing them
This is the method I use to divide almost all plants, not just hellebores. I often read in gardening books that you should cut off a portion of the plant while it’s still in the ground and wonder if the writer has ever tried that method. Only by digging the whole plant up can you avoid injury to the plant by viewing the unique way each individual plant needs to be divided.
Since writing this, I discovered that none other than the famous Gertrude Jekyll and I agree on this point. In 1898, in Wood and Garden, she wrote: “I never divide things by brutally chopping them across with the spade….The only safe way [to divide a Christmas rose] is to wash the clumps well out and look carefully for the points of attachment, and cut them either with knife or chisel….”
Please let me know in a comment/reply about your experiences with dividing hybrid hellebores.
Carolyn
This is part of a series of articles on hellebores, one of the specialties of my nursery. Here are links to the other articles:
Part One Hellebores for Fall
Part Two An Ode to Seed Strain Hellebores
Part Three Christmas Rose: The Perfect Hellebore
Part Four Dividing Hybrid Hellebores
Part Five The Sex Lives of Hellebores
Part Six Double Hellebores
Part Seven Cutting Back Hellebores
Notes: Every word that appears in orange on my blog is a link that you can click for more information. If you want to return to my blog’s homepage to access the sidebar information (catalogues, previous articles, etc.), just click here.
Nursery Happenings: I am currently accepting orders for snowdrops, including mail orders. For the catalogue and order information, click here. I am taking reservations for my March 18 & 19 Hellebore Seminars. For the brochure and registration information, click here. The March 6 session of Charles Cresson’s Snowdrops and Other Winter Interest Plants Seminar has been rescheduled for March 13 and has a few spaces left. For the brochure and registration information, click here.
CAROLYN'S SHADE GARDENS 
March 8, 2011 at 8:37 pm
Great how-to advice!! My favorite part though is the underlying prompting to resist the urge, and let them be. Can’t wait to have a few hellebores four feet across with hundreds of blooms.
March 8, 2011 at 8:43 pm
Kelly, Yes, that’s the crux–only divide them if your really can’t get another and you have to have more of that flower. Carolyn
March 8, 2011 at 10:10 pm
Carolyn, your Hellebore posts (all of them) are marvelous and so informative. That last collage is a stunner, too! I love Hellebores and have been adding new ones every year for the past several years…about 3, I think. I had no idea what they even were until I began blogging! Now I have quite a few, most are the orientalis variety and hybrids. I have just ordered more and have a mix of types…including argutifolius, foetidus ‘just because’ I wanted to;-) I love them…picking out a favorite is way to hard for me!
March 9, 2011 at 8:53 am
Jan, H. argutifolius or Corsican hellebore and H. foetidus or bearsfoot hellebore are two of the types that can’t be divided the way I described. They are both very unusual and lovely. Carolyn
March 8, 2011 at 10:20 pm
Carolyn, great tips and advice. I can not say I have ever divided hellebores, so nothing to add. I will look into adding them to my garden, but I fear I do not have conditions to meet their needs.
March 9, 2011 at 8:54 am
Donna, All they need where you live is good drainage, but I am not sure about the zone–is that what you mean? Carolyn
March 8, 2011 at 10:41 pm
Excellent article and gorgeous hybrid hellebores, Carolyn … the huge undivided drifts must be a stunning sight to behold.
March 9, 2011 at 8:58 am
Joey, The huge plants are amazing, and I keep adding more hellebores because so many appear that I can’t bear to sell. Carolyn
March 8, 2011 at 11:04 pm
I just realized that I didn’t answer your question in this post. I have divided a hellebore but only once so far. And I did it by digging directly into it, while in the ground, cutting it in half. I pushed the soil back up to the edges of the remaining half, and placed the other in a new hole. They’ve both done well until this year. I did this 2 yrs ago…and last year, I had a lot of buds on both. This year there aren’t many at all, although there are a lot of seedlings surrounding one of the plants. I’ll keep your method in mind should I decide to divide any more. Now that I’ve ordered more I doubt I’ll need to. I divided the one a couple of years ago because it was the only one I owned at the time!
March 9, 2011 at 9:01 am
Jan, Hybrid hellebores are late this year so maybe yours are still coming. Carolyn
March 8, 2011 at 11:28 pm
They are really beautiful. I didn’t know they come in that many colors and designs. Since I can’t grow them here, I shall just continue to admire that collage a little while more.
March 9, 2011 at 9:03 am
One, I appreciate that you continue to read and comment even though many of the plants I talk about don’t grow in Malaysia. I love reading about gardens in other parts of the world and what grows there like your lemon tree. Carolyn
March 8, 2011 at 11:59 pm
Very helpful advise! I do not have Hellebores in my garden but I guess the technique can be used for other plants too. 🙂 Thanks for sharing.
March 9, 2011 at 9:08 am
Helen, I hope you will try hellebores if they grow where you live in California. They are wonderful plants. Carolyn
March 9, 2011 at 12:11 am
Carolyn, I divided my hellebores a while ago. I read web-sites which said that you should wait till after hellebores flower before dividing them. I didn’t because I wanted to give some to a friend. I had a gut instinct that they would be OK, because the root ball was like a solid clump, and they were. (My gut instincts aren’t always right by the way …)
I’ll remember to reference your post next year.
March 9, 2011 at 5:07 pm
B-a-g, You obviously were exactly right to do what you did and adventurous to take the risk of ignoring what you read. I love hearing about experiments like this on your blog. Carolyn
March 9, 2011 at 12:48 am
Carolyn, any idea how far south the hybrid varieties of these grow? I have 2 that are ok, not great, but flowering. Others here swear you can’t grow them. Looking at those pictures I sure would like to try as they are much more my style than typical early spring flowers.
March 9, 2011 at 9:18 am
Jess, My Longwood Gardens course book says zone 8. The American hellebore book written by Tyler and Burrell seems to discuss only cold hardiness. I would check with your local arboretum/botanical garden. Carolyn
November 7, 2011 at 11:36 pm
I know of someone who grows them in GA so hopefully you have tried them and have had success. I grow mine up in zone 6 in full sun and they are very big. I don’t water them during summer either. So they are not just shade plants.
March 9, 2011 at 2:05 am
Great info! I bought 3 hellebores last spring and I have blooms now! I love the early color they give the garden and I will definitely be adding more. The plants were not labeled and I have no idea what variety they are… If you have time, please visit my post on Wed-March 9 and identify my mystery hellebore!!
March 9, 2011 at 9:27 am
Rebecca, I identified you hellebore as a hybrid, Helleborus x hybridus. Carolyn
March 9, 2011 at 3:08 am
Hi Carolyn, i don’t know hellebores because we dont have them here, just see them in photos. But what i appreciate more is your writing. How wonderful it is to be writing what you love to do, gardening! That is my fantasy still.
March 9, 2011 at 9:31 am
Andrea, What an incredible compliment. I love plants and, I really enjoy writing. Carolyn
March 9, 2011 at 4:05 am
I agree with you on the dividing method Carolyn. I just did that to my ground orchids recently, they are easier to divide when you take out the whole plant and see the natural allignments of the plant rppts as a guidance to cut and divide the plant. That way you avoid unnecessary injury to the plant. I love all your hellebores especially the double layered ones. Great post!
March 9, 2011 at 9:35 am
I am glad you agree because I envision all these gardeners hacking away at their plants based on what I consider erroneous advice in many gardening books. Orchids to you are what hellebores are to me so I know you can appreciate how much I love them. Carolyn
March 9, 2011 at 5:38 am
Great post Carolyn, though I’m not sure I want to divide any of the hellebores I have at the moment. I love it when they form large clumps, and I think I get more of a buzz seeing what new ones appear amongst the seedlings. Though I will be getting a Christmas Rose, I have the perfect spot…
March 9, 2011 at 9:48 am
Janet, Good, don’t divide them and let them get huge. Do remove the seedlings from around the mother plant to a new location with more room. Also extract any seedlings from the crown because you will get new plants crowding your existing plant. Glad to hear about the Christmas rose. Carolyn
March 9, 2011 at 5:59 am
I never think to divide hellebores as there are so many volunteers, but as you say, the expense of certain hybrid plants makes it worth the effort. I’m thinking that, as you suggest, the plants themselves do quite well undivided, which is true in my own garden.
March 9, 2011 at 9:54 am
Yes, a very economical way to get more hellebores is to move the seedlings that form readily around each hybrid plant. This is also a good way to get more of the three species that I mentioned that can’t be divided. Carolyn
March 9, 2011 at 9:30 am
HI Carolyn, I didn’t know you wrote for a garden magazine. How neat! I have to smile with this post. I always though you should not divide hellebores but then last year I gave it a try and I’m so happy to say I have had success. I didn’t break it up to small chunks though, more like just cutting it in half. I had no idea you could do this and do like the method. Yesterday I was moving several Ivory Princes and thought to myself I should divide a few but when I dug them I just didn’t have the heart as I was not sure how it would do. Last week a friend let me dig tons of the stinking hellebore (love LOVE them) and I probably could’ve divided them but didn’t. I did get lots of babies. I have tried before to transplant these rather large specimens into my garden with no luck. I’m hoping they do well this time but in case they don’t the baby hellebores are doing great. I have a perfect garden for them but it is just a pain getting them started. Now if you could only tell me how to divide pumonarias I have some friends who would be most happy. I’ve tried with no luck on these. Fortunately I get a few seedlings each year. Have a good day and it’s great you are working to change the perception you can’t divide hellebores.
March 9, 2011 at 10:04 am
Tina, I just wrote articles for gardening magazines for about three years on the side. I didn’t really enjoy the process so I stopped submitting ideas. I find that a lot of the things that you read about what you can’t do with plants are not in fact true. You can divided ‘Ivory Prince’ if you want. It is not a hybrid hellebore, but rather a species cross featuring Christmas rose as a parent and making it dividable. I am doing an article on this soon.
Stinking hellebore, H. foetidus, which I prefer to call bearsfoot hellebore, cannot be divided and must be propagated by moving seedlings. It is the only hellebore that likes somewhat moist conditions. It grows very well between rocks where the moisture drains down to it. I think it is best to transplant small plants unless they are grown in a pot.
Pulmonarias are somewhat difficult to divide because they have very few roots which break off easily. You need to do it now while it is still cold out. Dig the whole plant and wash off the soil. Use a sharp knife to split the plant in two, making sure each half has attached roots. I do it all the time successfully. Carolyn
March 9, 2011 at 11:25 am
Wonderful post! Love the information. I planted a few hellebores for the first time last year – we’ll see in a few years if they bloom!!! I’ve actually never seen a hellebore in person – I’m hoping mine will live. Your hellebores are amazing! I didn’t realize the plants were that large.
March 9, 2011 at 4:39 pm
Holley, Now I think I should have been more restrained in my size estimate. The plants that are 4′ across are almost 20 years old and are in a location where the hellebores grow larger than anywhere else for no reason that I can explain. Hellebores take three to five years from seed. If you planted plants they should theoretically bloom this year or at the latest next year. Carolyn
March 9, 2011 at 11:32 am
We had a hard winter this year and the hellebores seem to have loved it because they are blooming profusely.
March 9, 2011 at 4:40 pm
MNGarden, Now that’s a recommendation if I ever heard one. Carolyn
March 9, 2011 at 12:44 pm
Great advice Carolyn. I haven’t attempted dividing hellebores as the ones I had never got big enough but it’s good to know for when I purchase any hellebores in the future.
March 9, 2011 at 4:44 pm
Thanks, Marguerite. Your hellebores will be big soon enough. Carolyn
March 9, 2011 at 3:13 pm
Carolyn, What a great post. You make the process seem so clear and straightforward. I am a fan of dividing perennials – it is such a good way of creating lots more new, vigorous plants. But in my garden in England I have the two hellebores that don’t divide easily, and so have increased them by collecting the delightful little seedlings that appear all around the parents – hellebores are one of the few plants in my view that simply cannot produce too many seedlings!
By the way, what happens if you do try to divide foetidus or lividus? Is it simply that they don’t thrive?
March 9, 2011 at 4:52 pm
Jill, There is really nothing to divide because they produce a woody stalk from a central point. It would be like trying to divide a tree. They are very good at producing seedlings, and the new plants look exactly like the parents unlike hybrid hellebores. Carolyn
March 9, 2011 at 4:36 pm
Someday, may my individual hybrid hellebores be as stunning as your! Thank you so much for the great advice…I just looked at my hellebore ‘ivory Prince’ and said, “You my beauty need to get out of that bed and into a better one for viewing!” So this morning after two days of heavy rains~with more to arrive~They’ve been moved and look pretty darn happy! No way were they ready for dividing, but, now I know how! gil
March 9, 2011 at 4:56 pm
Gail, ‘Ivory Prince’ is such a beautiful hellebore with its rose blushed ivory blooms and silvery foliage with red highlights. It is completely unrelated to hybrid hellebores, but is a cross containing Christmas rose, Majorcan hellebore, and Corsican hellebore in various proportions. Carolyn
March 9, 2011 at 7:13 pm
Carolyn, I wish I had hybrid hellebores to try your very well explained recipe. Maybe next autumn I will be ready for the experience. Lula
March 9, 2011 at 8:16 pm
Lula, Glad you liked the recipe. Let me know how it works when you try it. Carolyn
March 10, 2011 at 2:14 am
Had never considered dividing mine…will look at those that are old enough to do this and spread the wealth…
March 10, 2011 at 10:28 am
Donna, Send me a comment if you have any further questions when it is time to divided your hellebores. Carolyn
March 10, 2011 at 10:26 am
It’s always interesting visiting your blog Carolyn. We don’t grow hellebores here in Austin but you never know what the future holds!
March 10, 2011 at 10:31 am
Cat, Have you ever tried a hellebore. If not, I am assuming it is too hot in Austin for hellebores. I am trying to gather information on the southern range of hellebores. What zone are you? Carolyn
March 10, 2011 at 10:11 pm
Hi Carolyn,
It will be awhile before I can divide the little plants I got from you, but I wanted to let you know that one of the Red Ladies is blooming for me. One of the dinky little three-leafed plants I got from you last spring is already in bloom!! Woohoo I’m hooked on hellebores!
March 11, 2011 at 12:53 pm
Dear Carolyn – A great article – are you dividing when the flowers have finished? Knew you were an expert but am impressed at how famous you are too. Clearly blogging rather than writing for magazines is better for you – you have your own deadline and a readership that is growing by the day. Seems you are the Gertrude Jekyll of Pennsylvania 😉
March 11, 2011 at 4:07 pm
Laura, I divide hybrid hellebores ideally before the flowers are all the way out, but they can be fully extended. This might be the nicest comment I have gotten to date—the Gertrude Jekyll of PA!?! I am definitely as quirky and opinionated as she was. I am very happy with the progress of my blog, and I really love writing about plants. I didn’t like writing for magazines because they edit, add photos, and caption photos without any input from the author. Lots of mistakes are made, and the author has no control over them but his or her name is on the article. Quality is too important to me, and the money for writing magazine articles, even features, just isn’t very good. Certainly not enough to make up for the time my article on dwarf Jacob’s ladder was illustrated with a photo of Spanish bluebells. I was mortified. Carolyn
March 12, 2011 at 2:57 pm
Dear Carolyn, Another very informative posting in your hellebores series. Impressive article in Horticulture. P x
March 12, 2011 at 5:54 pm
Pam, I was very excited to have a feature article in Horticulture, but generally writing magazine articles wasn’t for me for the reasons I have explained in previous replies. Carolyn
March 12, 2011 at 11:48 pm
Oh, my, you have me coveting some of those wonderful hybrids. And your mature hellebores are enormous! Thanks for a terrific post, filled with lovely photos and excellent advice.
March 13, 2011 at 7:28 pm
Deb, You can’t go wrong with a hybrid hellebore. Carolyn
March 13, 2011 at 12:03 pm
Hi Carolyn, What I am really enjoying with this blogging is the renewed interest in plants that for whatever reason I have stopped growing. I have in the past been too obsessed with Summer, I think I will now concentrate on some of the Spring beauties which you show us.
March 13, 2011 at 7:30 pm
Alistair, What they really are are winter beauties. There is plenty of stuff going on in the garden in spring: it’s winter I have been concentrating for for the last 20 years. Carolyn
March 13, 2011 at 2:21 pm
Carolyn, I apologize for my tardy comment on this outstanding post. You certainly made that issue of Horticulture a more valued one. Great instructions and I whole heartedly agree one should not divide Hellebores while they are in the ground. You might have to do this with hosta or daylilies but even those should first be attempted by your suggested method. It is so exciting to see you holding those plants and knowing the great feeling of seeing your plants natural way of showing you where to divide.
March 13, 2011 at 7:33 pm
Carol, Hey, it was my tiny moment in the spotlight so I have to milk it for all it’s worth. I always dig up hostas and daylilies too, If anything they are easier to divide than big hellebores. Today I was using a hatchet and rock hammer to divide some really large hellebore clumps. Beleive it or not I am trying to cut back on the number of hellebores in my garden. Carolyn
March 18, 2011 at 1:24 pm
Carolyn, i was just gifted with a huge box of corsican hellebores which had been dug and divided. They all have huge 24″ flower stalks. Your comments suggest that corsicans are not likely to survive dividing. I’m on a 1/2 acre woodland lot in Portland Or and would dearly love for them to settle in. I’ve tucked them into humusy moist soil and removed about half of the flower stalks from each…what do you think are my chances?
March 18, 2011 at 9:07 pm
Lisa, Maybe the plants that were divided to produce your gift were so big that they had separated into separate stalks and thus separate plants so they may take. Corsican hellebores grow on fairly sunny rocky hillsides in Corsica, although I have grown them in full shade. They do not like to be moist but prefer well-drained conditions. Carolyn
April 6, 2011 at 8:47 am
This is late because I have just found Carolyn’s site. There was a question about how far south hellebores can be grown. The hybrids in my zone 5 garden came to me as seedlings from my mother’s zone 9 garden in central California, where they thrive.
April 6, 2011 at 8:38 pm
Patricia, Great to have this new information that hellebores thrive in zone 9. Thanks, Carolyn
April 16, 2011 at 12:31 am
Hi Carolyn, I’ve just discovered your blog and know it will be fun to return often. This is a wonderful article on hellebores. My oldest plant is now 4 years old and is bearing Many beautiful flowers this Spring. I suppose I should divide it? However, there are many, many little seedlings that I may care for, first. 🙂
April 16, 2011 at 7:04 am
I would transplant the seedlings and leave the older plant to get bigger and produce more and more flowers. Carolyn
May 2, 2011 at 8:22 am
Hi Carolyn, I love your blog and all of the information you share with us. We are slowly transforming our garden into a woodland garden and the lawn area gets progressively smaller 🙂 We have a pesky invader and I don’t know what it is: it has 3 leaves at the top of a stem like a Trillium and an elongated green flower. The roots are single and long with a nodule. The are easily pulled out but come back even more profusely. They are invading mostly sunny areas. What are they and what can be done to eliminate them chemical free?
Thanks so much!
May 2, 2011 at 12:58 pm
Susanne, I think I am having problems with the same pant in my woodland gardens and that it is some form of very invasive pinellia, possibly P. perdisecta. It comes up small with three leaflets but develops more if left to mature. I have gotten rid of it by very carefully digging up (not pulling) the plant with a trowel making sure to get all the little nodules. Carolyn
July 16, 2011 at 9:20 am
I was wondering about care for hellebores in the fall. Do you cut them back, dead head them after they bloom?
Also, when do you divide them? I thought I read your article carefully but maybe I missed this.
I live in the Boston area.
Thank you.
July 16, 2011 at 3:06 pm
Dorothy, You don’t have to deadhead hellebores after they bloom and shouldn’t if you want seedlings. I deadhead mine because I don’t want seedlings. I cut them back when I see new growth in the spring. I divide them when they bloom in the spring. Carolyn
November 7, 2011 at 11:38 pm
What a great article, I will have to try this next spring.
February 28, 2012 at 1:47 am
Dear Carolyn,
I purchased a hellebore from you in 1999-2000 and I have moved three time since then, the hellebore is still thriving, I just love the plant. I just purchased a white hellebore. I think replanting is a breeze, I have found that when I replant or repot any plant that it is best to do it just before sundown, allowing time of course, do the same with house plants at night, and use your plant instincts, it’s never failed me. I just wanted to say to you, thank you, for introducing me to the wonderful world of hellebores.
Sincerely,
Amy Austin
February 28, 2012 at 9:19 am
Amy, I am so happy that your hellebore has moved around with you and thrived. Hellebores are so tough and log-lived that they will probably outlive all of us. Carolyn
May 4, 2012 at 3:03 pm
Last yr. I tried to divide an 8-9 yr. old helleborus but a tree-root is on top beneath the soil; latter tree has since been removed. Root seems to be exactly on top of half of plant.
With some strong-arm help this fall I’d like to complete this project. Any solution/recommendations?
May 4, 2012 at 3:30 pm
Martha, It is really not clear from your description what the problem is if the tree is gone. I would just dig around the plant, pull it out from under whatever is on top, and proceed with dividing. Since it seems like a lot of trouble I would reconsider dividing the hellebore. They don’t need to be divided. Carolyn
August 30, 2012 at 10:42 pm
Hi Carolyn,
I have been growing hellebores for many, many years now. I started with a plant my mother in law gave me over 25 years ago, divided from one her mother in law gave her. It has moved spots in the garden several times, and spent 3 years in a pot whilst we we building a new home. I have just divided it again to give to my husbands sisters as a reminder to them of grandma and great gran. I now have over 50 different plants. Iam constantly discovering different colours, shapes and patterns in mine.
I have divided up many of my originals as I have a large south facing garden that I want to be completely under planted with hellebores. ( I better mention I live in southern Australia – south is our shady side!)
I love hellebores for many reasons. They are beautiful, give colour and flowers in the cold and wet, are so easy to grow, and you can do so much with them.
Regards Liz
September 1, 2012 at 4:13 pm
Liz, Thanks for sharing your story of hellebores as a pass along plant in Australia no less. I have a hellebore from Tasmania called ‘Mrs. Betty Ranicar’ that I love. Carolyn
January 5, 2013 at 4:08 pm
Love the sign of spring from this plant, cut all dead leaves back hard every year,
Have been dividing every year chop large clump off healthy large plant, then just divide leaving dirt on, never have had any die,
It is very much like ornimental grasses, they are very hardy, to bad they don’t self seed,
Thanks for nice pics and article,
October 5, 2013 at 7:14 pm
A neighbor who just bought his house … gave me a patch 6″x6″ of his plant. So I divided it into 14 sections some with leaves others with tiny buds beginning …. And planted in a shady area . Hope to c what will happen & will be surprised at the flower color ….planted each “node” approx 8″ apart and they covered a 3’x6′ area .keeping my fingers crossed for next year :))))
October 6, 2013 at 7:48 am
You are daring. Good luck.
January 16, 2014 at 8:03 pm
This is a great post…I learned so much from it. thank you
January 21, 2014 at 9:04 am
Carolyn,
One more question, a neighbor is going to give me some of his heleborus plants, he has a lot, his garden is over 20 years old. His look like mine, like they are individual plants, not clumps. Is the best time to move them like the clump kind, when they start to bloom? Thanks again,
Dennie
January 21, 2014 at 9:43 am
Dennie, All hellebores form clumps over time so I am unclear on your distinction between clumps and individual plants. You can move hellebores in early spring or fall. Carolyn
April 11, 2016 at 9:53 am
I’m inspired! Thanks for your wonderful advice!
April 9, 2017 at 1:04 pm
Carolyn,
Hi 🙂 from HZ5b, Champaign, IL, USA, planet earth. . .
Your enlightening article on Helleborus spp. is VERY MUCH APPRECIATED. Thank you.
Your replies to posts recommend that gardeners divide hellebores as they are coming into bloom, ideally before the flowers are all the way out. You comment that the flowers can be fully extended.
Are your recommendations for timing of division solely to gauge size of division as “each flower represents a potential division,” or are there horticultural reasons for such timing? If so, what are those reasons?
When weather or poor memory delay division, how does a “late-divided” Hellebore respond?
One of your replies mentions using “a hatchet and rock hammer to divide some really large hellebore clumps.” Have you ever tried a sawzall?
Timing of seed germination around mother plants in the ground seems to be late-winter. Seed germination and emergence of new plants occurs just this one time during the year? I ask because to rogue out seedlings from interior of the clump would be facilitated if roguing could be done at the time of cutting back flower stalks (as new growth emerges.) Any seedlings would be more easily visible and accessible at this time of cutting back foliage. Your suggestions for roguing seedlings from interior of clump?
A wholesale/retail mail-order nursery focused solely on Hellebores shipped my order this spring with some plants undersized to the point of being only a “hope and a prayer,” some with root system well-matched to the pot, and some plants seriously root-bound in the pot. For the root-bound plants, leave the root system in its current “solid mass”? Trim back the edges of root mass? The root system is past loosening roots and spreading them out into compost amended soil.
Best regards and THANK YOU for sharing your expertise.
April 12, 2017 at 8:14 pm
I am so busy with my nursery right now that I don’t have time to answer all these questions. However I intend to answer them in a blog post updating my original post on dividing hellebore—stay tuned.
April 14, 2017 at 7:12 am
🙂 🙂 🙂 thanks
May 2, 2018 at 7:51 am
Dear Carolyn,
I have spent an extensive time here on your blog this morning and have learned a great deal about shade plants in general. I am in zone 7 of N. Alabama and have felt like I had black thumbs since moving here from So Cal ten years ago. I am just beginning to get the hang of gardening here with clay soil and too much shade.
Things I couldn’t grow in California ware peonies, oak leaf hydrangeas, and hellebore. The hellebore has surprised me this past year with seed sprouted baby plants! And, whereas I used to be a native or nothing snob I have now learned to embrace any non invasive plant that will grow for me. I have turned a corner and look forward to more garden delights in the next ten years.
Your articles on shade loving plants are delightful! and informative, thank you!
~ Lynda
May 2, 2018 at 3:52 pm
Thanks for such a heartfelt comment!