Once-disparaged hellebores deserve an apology

After a couple decades of serious gardening, you’d think I would have learned from past lessons. And you would be wrong, because once again I’ve found myself backtracking on blowing off a plant that was completely undeserving of such treatment.

I’ve been here before with other plants, and each time I just cross my fingers that my fellow gardeners will forget any disparaging words I’ve uttered about the newly favored plant.

So with my gardening hat in hand, I will admit that I’ve seen the light on hellebores. A few years ago I would have told you that they bloom late here, don’t offer much in the way of looks beyond spring and are considerably more expensive than most perennials, and therefore weren’t worthy of a space in the garden.

I first came to know hellebores by the common name Christmas rose, which explains my disappointment, because they don’t bloom until several months after Christmas in Wisconsin. Another common name — Lenten rose —gives a better idea of when they might bloom, although it only applies when Lent is late.

Breeding — and there has been a lot of it — has erased any former complaints I might have had about looks. Years ago, hellebores had shy, downward facing flowers that required gardeners to get on their knees and lift up a flower to get a good look at it. I’m not opposed to getting up close and personal with a plant, but April is a lousy time to be crawling around in the garden. New cultivars often feature more upward-facing flowers and stiffer stems to hold them higher.

And plant breeders aren’t only selecting for flower form and color. They are also extending the show with variegated foliage that emerges after blooming.

Hellebores in our area likely have flower buds emerging from the crown now, but you might have to dig around a bit to find it. Last year’s foliage often lays on the ground and creates a nest that tends to collect fallen leaves for winter protection. The plants can be neatened up in advance of flowering by cutting away old foliage.

Flowering lasts for several weeks, making hellebores not only one of the first perennials to bloom but also a great transition plant to carry the garden through the emergence of many other plants.

I won’t back down on my previous assertion that hellebores tend to be more expensive than other perennials, but it’s because they are generally slow-growing and take about three years to flower, meaning growers have to tend them for much longer than most plants before they are sellable.

With hellebores’ propensity to reseed over time, creating a carpet of early blooms across partial shade border, the price they fetch could be justified with some creative gardening math. But maybe a beautiful flowering plant that shines when very little else is happening in the garden is justification enough.

I’ve got some making up to do to hellebores and all the gardeners who told me I was missing out on them, and as part of my penance I’ll make it a point to add more to my garden so I never again make the mistake of thinking they aren’t all they are cracked up to be.