March 2013 GBBD: Hellebores on Parade Again
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.
My friend David Culp had this lovely bowl of hellebore flowers on his porch when I visited his garden Brandywine Cottage recently. This is an elegant way to display your hellebores and gives a feeling for the range of colors and forms available. For more gorgeous photos of David’s garden, check out his book The Layered Garden.
It is the middle of the month and time to participate in Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day (GBBD) hosted by May Dreams Gardens (link available on the 15th of the month) where gardeners from all over the world publish photos each month of what’s blooming in their gardens. I participate because it is fun and educational for me to identify what plants make my gardens shine at different times of the year. I am calling this post Hellebores on Parade Again because for GBBD in January 2012 I also put my hellebores on parade (click here to read it).
This month I am using this opportunity to profile the hellebores that will be available at my upcoming Hellebore Extravaganza Sale at my nursery on Saturday, March 23, from 10 am to 3 pm. All photos are of hellebores blooming in my garden right now.
My garden is located in Bryn Mawr (outside Philadelphia), Pennsylvania, U.S., in zone 6B.
‘Pink Frost’ is my favorite of the Christmas rose crosses. Its blue leaves set off the bright pink flowers beautifully, and the flowers fade to a gorgeous rose-red for an extremely long season of interest.
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‘Pink Frost’ also works quite well in a container where its beauty can be examined up close (Culp garden).
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‘There is nothing like the pure white, outward-facing flowers of Christmas rose, Helleborus niger, to stop you in your tracks. A mature clump can have dozens of flowers.
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The double Christmas rose ‘Double Fantasy’ is quite striking.
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Hellebore ‘Mary Lou’ has huge flowers and a wide pink border surrounding a bold maroon spotted “face”.
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The late afternoon sun shines through the early-blooming, yellow hellebore ‘Warbler’, whose flowers continue to be very ornamental even when they have technically “gone by”. As you can see though, new buds are on the way.
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Here is a close up of ‘Warbler’ that I have posted before.
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The double pink hellebore ‘Phoebe’ is just coming into bloom in my garden.
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A close up of ‘Phoebe’.
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‘Painted Bunting’ is the first hybrid hellebore to bloom in my garden and isn’t fazed by all the cold weather we have been having.
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‘Painted Bunting’s’ picotee markings with the maroon center flaring out to outline the pure white petals makes it very special.
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‘Elegance White’ is another lovely double hellebore.
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The species hellebore H. purpurascens has a very unique slate purple color not found in any other hellebore.
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A close up of Helleborus purpurascens.
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Fragrant hellebore, H. odorus, adds a bright note to the winter garden and looks gorgeous paired with red hellebores like ‘Red Lady’.
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A close up of fragrant hellebore.
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‘Red Lady’ hellebore
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Another early-blooming Christmas rose cross, ‘Cinnamon Snow’.
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A close up of ‘Cinnamon Snow’.
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This black hybrid hellebore grabs the attention of every garden visitor I have.
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The double hellebore ‘First Cuckoo’ is new to me this year.
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This very unusual flower belongs to the first ever cross between bearsfoot hellebore, H. foetidus, and Christmas rose, H. niger, called H. x sahinii ‘Winter Bells’. It is new for me this year but looks quite promising for flowers and foliage interest.
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Two more hellebore container ideas from David Culp:
Double black hellebores paired with their favorite companion, snowdrops.
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An enchanting combination of cream-colored hellebores and pussy willows, a shrub I may offer in my upcoming woody plant offer.
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Enjoy, Carolyn
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Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is a retail nursery located in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, US, zone 6b. The only plants that we mail order are snowdrops and miniature hostas and only within the US.
If you are within visiting distance and would like to receive catalogues and information about customer events, please send your full name and phone number to carolynsshadegardens@verizon.net. Subscribing to my blog does not sign you up to receive this information.
Nursery Happenings: The nursery is open and fully stocked. If you can’t come to an event, just email to schedule an appointment–we are available this weekend. My Hellebore Extravaganza open house sale is Saturday, March 23, from 10 am to 3 pm. If you are a customer, expect an email shortly with all the details. There are still a few spaces left in the hellebore seminar on Monday, March 18, at 10 am. For details click here. The 2013 Snowdrop Catalogue is on the sidebar of the website and orders are being accepted now. To view the catalogue, click here. The 2013 General Catalogue is available here.
Facebook: Carolyn’s Shade Gardens has a Facebook Page where I post single photos, garden tips, and other information that doesn’t fit into a blog post. You can look at my Facebook page here or click the Like button on my right sidebar here.
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.) or to subscribe to my blog, just click here.
CAROLYN'S SHADE GARDENS 
March 14, 2013 at 4:19 pm
Hi Carolyn, Lovely selection of hellebores. However, it is your comment on David Culp’s book, “The Layered Garden” which caught my eye. It is nearly two months in the house but I haven’t been able to get my hands on it yet. Every time I try to do so Mary says she isn’t finished with it yet – two month reading and re-reading; You’d think she’s have enough of it by now! LOL I’ll get it eventually.
March 16, 2013 at 7:51 am
Paddy, Let’s hope Mary gets done with David’s book soon so you can see the photos of his lovely garden. He and I share the love of many of the same plants—hellebores, snowdrops, epimediums, magnolias—so I especially enjoy my visits to his garden. Carolyn
March 14, 2013 at 4:20 pm
Have you tried floating Hellebore flowers? Do you know how long they last indoors, or if you need to sear the cut stem to keep it longer? Floating them is such a lovely way to showcase the often downward nodding blossoms, with all their subtle muted color variations…..that naturally harmonize with one another. Enjoying these flowers indoors is the antidote to often inhospitable March weather.
I know David Culp is a breeder of Hellebores & may have access to many in pots which he can use to create wonderful container displays. Do you know if Hellebores can thrive or even survive if planted year-round in weatherproof containers in your zone? I love the combined arrangement of them with pussy willow branches, reminding us you can add forced stems from other woodies to enhance them in containers.
Thanks for another inspiring post.
March 16, 2013 at 7:55 am
Eric, I have tried floating the flowers, but I kept them outside. I am not sure how long they last inside. I don’t think it’s necessary to sear the stems. The only hellebore I have ever grown in a container and left outside for the whole winter is bearsfoot, and it did fine. I am not sure if David leaves his outside for the winter or pops them in and out for display. If any reader has experience with either of these issues, please comment. Carolyn
March 14, 2013 at 5:15 pm
Hello Carolyn,
Some gorgeous and varied hellebore flowers here. I’m very envious of them. Right now all ours have been freeze dried into sad browning stems by some exceptionally cold drying winds. Still there’s always next year…..
Best wishes
Julian
March 15, 2013 at 10:10 am
Julian, I am so sorry. Those winds must have been very cold to take out hellebores which seem to withstand the coldest conditions here even when in full flower. That’s the gardener’s mantra though, next year…. Carolyn
March 14, 2013 at 5:16 pm
Truly lovely hellebores, so many lovely new ones to tempt us to buy! There were some good ideas to use for winter containers, some might just appear here next winter!
March 15, 2013 at 10:08 am
Pauline, I always think I have enough hellebores but them there is another one that I can’t live without. I am always inspired and get new ideas when I visit David Culp’s garden. . Carolyn
March 14, 2013 at 5:29 pm
Some real special blooms here! I especially like Phoebe and Mary Lou…Painted Bunting catches my eye as well and the black is outstanding! larry
March 15, 2013 at 10:06 am
Larry, Painted Bunting is great because it blooms so early—just when you think you can’t take another moment of winter, there it is. Carolyn
March 14, 2013 at 6:51 pm
I have become smitten with hellebores. When I started down your post, I thought I would like the white one the best, but then I saw Phoebe, then the purples one, then the black! Oh, my – too many to choose just one! I love the arrangement of the black hellebores with the snowdrops. That is simply beautiful.
March 15, 2013 at 10:05 am
Holley, I love the black hellebores too, but the pink and white varieties show up much better in the garden and are really more satisfying in the long run. Carolyn
March 14, 2013 at 9:02 pm
I really like the black hybrid, I can see why it is an attention getter. I really like your planter displays and the dish floating the hellebores at the opening of the post. It is a great idea and very colorful.
March 15, 2013 at 10:04 am
Donna, David Culp is a master of container plantings and his gardens reflect his amazing attention to detail. Carolyn
March 14, 2013 at 9:18 pm
Gorgeous! I had no idea there are black ones!
March 15, 2013 at 10:03 am
HRF, The black cultivars are harder to find but quite worth the search. Carolyn
March 14, 2013 at 10:27 pm
What a beautiful display of hellebores! Looking forward to the arrival of Spring, here, before long!
March 15, 2013 at 10:02 am
SG, Spring is really not here yet, another cold and cloudy day today with a low of 28 last night. Carolyn
March 14, 2013 at 10:46 pm
I love the elegance white, and the black hybrid! I can’t believe I only have one Hellebore in my garden. I planted last year as an experiment to see how it did. They’re much tougher plants than I expected. I’m half tempted to plant a lot more…but how on earth do you choose?! They’re all gorgeous!
March 15, 2013 at 10:02 am
Clare, Hellebores are probably the toughest plant that I grow in my garden, taking all kinds of conditions except wet and any light conditions. I am glad you are experimenting with one. Carolyn
March 14, 2013 at 11:48 pm
The double black hellebores and snowdrops! amazing! I will have to try the pussy willow and cream hellebore, I have lots of pussy willow, one of those shrubs that’s virtually indestructible!
March 15, 2013 at 10:00 am
Bernie, That arrangement looked like something you would produce. I will look forward to a photo on your blog. Carolyn
March 15, 2013 at 12:11 am
what a delightful bowl of hellebores…and all those colors I do love that bluish back one!
March 15, 2013 at 4:58 pm
Sharon, It is a great way to display hellebore flowers so you can see their gorgeous insides. Carolyn
March 15, 2013 at 7:05 am
Hi Carolyn,
Recently I went to a Mississippi event (I’m originally from there) and picked up a book on the restoration of Eudora Welty’s garden. Would you like to see it? jim davis
March 15, 2013 at 8:35 am
Jim, I was going to send you an email about this but your email stopped working and your phone number didn’t work either so you are no longer on my customer email list. Not much time for reading anything right now. Carolyn
March 15, 2013 at 9:00 am
Each image drew a deeper breath than the one before! I would be so tempted to buy them all from you if I lived in your area. Thank you for sharing such beauties. Christina
March 15, 2013 at 10:00 am
Christina, I am not sure why everyone’s garden isn’t full of hellebores, but, of course, I am prejudiced. They can be pricey but they end up the size of a small shrub and provide so much interest. Carolyn
March 15, 2013 at 2:29 pm
I agree with that, anything that flowers so and so very beautifully should be in every garden that has the required situation
March 15, 2013 at 12:45 pm
Carolyn I will trade you some snow for a hellebore. It is snowing and will for the next week even for the start of spring…cold temps will keep us white. I love some of the containers especially the last one…stunning.
March 15, 2013 at 4:55 pm
Donna, I think at this point I am done with the idea of snow but maybe we can trade next winter at a more seasonal appropriate time :-). Your comment was in spam—how did you know that? Carolyn
March 15, 2013 at 6:57 pm
Some severe damage to H. hybridus forms in Ireland this Spring, due to softness of early growth then -6.
March 16, 2013 at 8:47 am
Vincent, I am so sorry to hear about your hellebores. Julian in Wales left the same comment. We do go down to 21 degrees F (-6 C) occasionally when the hellebores are getting started with no apparent affect, but maybe yours were farther out.
March 15, 2013 at 7:40 pm
Your hellebores are all beautiful. The snow has melted in my serenity garden and the tattered remains of last year’s hellebore foliage has appeared; so far, though, no signs of new growth or buds.
March 16, 2013 at 8:48 am
Jean, I hope your hellebore produces many beautiful flowers. Some of mine are just starting to show buds because it has been so cold so I am sure it is too early for any signs of growth in Maine. Carolyn
March 15, 2013 at 8:01 pm
As if I needed any more, I bought two more today at Sandy’s Plants in Richmond. It was her open house and I was able to get wholesale. Such a deal! Happy GBBD.
March 16, 2013 at 8:53 am
Les, There is always room for more hellebores. I succumbed to three more on a recent trip to one of my wholesale suppliers. Carolyn
March 15, 2013 at 9:29 pm
Hellebores displayed in a bowl like that always looks impressive. Lovely table centre piece too!
Oh boy, how I wish I lived closer, then again I would probably be bankruptcy within a week. Your selection is breath taking!
March 16, 2013 at 9:06 am
Angie, You are welcome to stop by anytime with the contents of your bank account :-). Carolyn
March 16, 2013 at 7:31 am
Having got back into Hellebores I was thinking the common Christmas Rose Niger was hard to beat. Mind you that black hybrid looks worthy of naming.
March 16, 2013 at 7:44 am
Alistair, The common Christmas rose is wonderful. ‘Pink Frost’, the Christmas rose cross, is pretty exqusite though too and would look great with the black hybrid. I am thinking of moving the black one next to it. Carolyn
March 16, 2013 at 9:07 am
Great post! I’m currently reading David Culp’s book. Would love to visit his garden someday. For some reason unusual Hellebores are hard to come by around here. I’m going out in search of some today. ‘Pink Frost’ is definitely on my radar. Happy GBBD!
March 16, 2013 at 9:12 am
Sue, Visiting David’s garden is a must if you ever get the chance. Happy Hellebore Hunting. Carolyn
March 16, 2013 at 3:34 pm
The painted bunting is beautiful, and that black hybrid?! *drooling* Happy Bloom Day!
March 17, 2013 at 8:08 am
Jane, Painted Bunting is especially nice because it is so early. We have been having a very cold late winter, and it is one of the few hybrid hellebores that is fully out with numerous flowers Carolyn
March 16, 2013 at 4:00 pm
Ooh! That double pink Hellebore is just gorgeous. Had’nt seen the black ones before.
Bridget.
March 17, 2013 at 8:06 am
Bridget, The double pink hellebore Phoebe has a perfectly proportioned flower with just the right amount of spots—very elegant. Carolyn
March 16, 2013 at 8:55 pm
Absolutely love that bowl full of blooms. Especially since so many of these flowers are downfacing and difficult to view when walking through the garden.
March 17, 2013 at 8:03 am
Marguerite, A lot of customers like the new hellebores like Pink Frost and Cinnamon Snow because the flowers are outward-facing like their Christmas rose parent. I like them too. However, I love the fact that the traditional nodding hybrids cause me to slow down in the garden, lean over, and touch the flowers to turn them up. Each overturned flower is like a little present waiting for me to discover it. Carolyn
March 16, 2013 at 10:38 pm
Your selection is just gorgeous, just one stunner after the other! But then I am slightly obsessed with Hellebores so maybe a bit partial…I tried to search for the black one over here, do you know the name for it? Is it ‘Black’ or ‘Black beauty’ ? Or something else? It seems there are varieties sold in US that we don’t have and vice versa. I am definitely trying to get ‘Pink Frost’ but I haven’t seen it yet, but there is a nice series called Harvington here, in single and double and many different colours, I might get some of them in the autumn, when they are cheaper. Obsessions cost money!
And now I have got another, new obsession, magnolias! I didn’t think I could grow magnolia in my tiny garden and I have just ordered two!! One will arrive next week hopefully, the other one won’t arrive until late April. Can’t wait, I have always wanted a magnolia!
Have a nice Sunday, Carolyn and thanks for all the great info 🙂
March 17, 2013 at 8:00 am
Helene, The black hybrid hellebore that I have comes as ‘Single Black’, ‘Ruse Black’, or ‘Black’. You will love Pink Frost. It is not a traditional hybrid hellebore, but a cross between Christmas rose and H. lividus, a red-highlighted hellebore species from Majorca. The cross is called H. x ericsmithii. I love magnolias. Which did you order? Have you read Larry’s blog Conrad Art Glass and Gardens? He is the king of magnolias. Carolyn
March 17, 2013 at 11:39 am
Carolyn, I read and comment regularly on Larry’s blog, and he has actually suggested several magnolias to me, but they have proved difficult to get over here. Because my garden is so small my main requirement was a magnolia grown as single stem, and I wanted a scented one, preferably in a shade of pink. I will grow it in a container until the crown reaches above my fence level. I contacted a lot of nurseries, some had single stem, but to a horrific price, but finally I found one who could deliver; a Magnolia soulangeana ‘Heaven Scent’, single stem, 150-200 cm when delivered, 10l pot. That’s what I will get hopefully next week.
And only a few days after I had order, I found another single stem magnolia on the Internet. I have contacted the nursery to ask what variety it is but they didn’t answer that question, only said it was a Magnolia soulangeana, they did however confirm the info on the website, where it say the magnolia is 80 cm when delivered and will never grow to more than 150cm, regardless of whether it is grown in the ground or in a container. Not sure how that is possible, perhaps it is grafted onto something else, it is bare root so I will see when it arrives by end of April, but I think another question to Larry might be necessary
Thanks for the info about the black hellebore, I have looked at so many, but none of them have those blackish leaves too, does your plants retain that leaf colour or is just when the leaves are young? All the hellebores I have seen advertised here with almost black flowers have just green leaves, that’s what made yours so spectacular. Still looking for ‘pink frost’, I have found ‘Winter Moonbeam’, Walberton’s ‘Ivory Prince’, ‘Pirouette’ and ‘Ruby Glow’ all ericsmithii, but not ‘pink frost’…typical. Will still be looking.
March 17, 2013 at 1:00 pm
Helene, I will await photos of your new magnolias with interest. The leaves on the black-leaved hellebore come out black/purple and fade to green later in the season. ‘Pink Frost’ is worth the search. How about the RHS plant finder? Carolyn
March 17, 2013 at 3:27 pm
I guessed that hellebores couldn’t be grown in pots because their roots grow so deep, but it looks like the ideal way to display them.
March 17, 2013 at 10:09 pm
I think I landed within the facets of a rainbow when I came here to see all these lovely hues of hellebores. Absolutely beautiful!! My favorite presentation is the one in the pot with the moss…just lovely.
March 19, 2013 at 9:13 pm
[…] March 2013 GBBD: Hellebores on Parade Again (carolynsshadegardens.com) […]
March 20, 2013 at 12:32 pm
I almost missed your post with marvelous hellebores! I don’t have any here, so your images are making my day!
March 20, 2013 at 5:03 pm
So many hellebores! They are very beautiful especially that ‘Pink Frost’.
March 23, 2013 at 7:56 am
What a lovely parade! So many lovely flowers! I really like your porch display and also the bowl of hellebores.
March 23, 2013 at 2:54 pm
Carolyn, I love the hellebore/pussy willow combination! Hellebores certainly deserve all the praise they receive.
Also, thanks for visiting and commenting on my Burkwood viburnum post. You asked about the berries. My Burkwood viburnum does produce berries, but they are not particularly showy, and they don’t seem to last long on the shrubs; the birds eat them up. I do know that in order to produce berries many viburnums need to be cross-pollinated by other shrubs of similar, but not exactly the same, species. So in order to have good berry production, you can’t have just one.
March 25, 2013 at 9:13 am
I always am so impressed with the range of hellebores you have Carolyn. The white ones especially caught my attention this time and the black is so unique no wonder everyone who visits the nursery remarks on it. I am wonder about planting them in containers. Can they overwinter in a clay pot as shown or do they spend the winter in a greenhouse?
March 25, 2013 at 10:45 am
Jennifer, The plants in the clay pot were in David Culp’s garden. I have no experience with keeping hellebores outside in a pot all winter other than I did it successfully with bearsfoot hellebore once. It is a question of whether the roots can freeze. Carolyn
March 25, 2013 at 7:50 pm
Hello Carolyn, I haven’t blogged for a while, but glad I didn’t miss your hellebore posting. You have such a wonderful variety and lovely to see their sweet blooms when mine are still buds. The snowdrops I bought from you are still sleeping — I mentioned them in my post today. I ordered Culp’s book, but it didn’t come yet. Since I read your posting, I am really glad I ordered it. P. x
February 14, 2014 at 2:56 pm
Greetings, I have linked to your wonderful blog about hellebores here: http://teufelskunst.com/seeds/garden-library/hellebore/
February 14, 2014 at 3:26 pm
Glad you enjoyed the post.