Now is the time here in the UK to be tidying your Hellebores if you don’t want to be over run with seedlings.
It is always recommended that you buy your hellebores in flower so that you can see exactly what you are buying.
It can take so long to chose exactly the right one – they are all so gorgeous and tempting.
If you let them go to seed this is the result – hundreds of seedlings – all around the mother plant that you so lovingly chose. Eventually they could take over and crowd out the wonderful plant that you chose at the nursery.
The chances are that the seedlings will be nowhere near as good as the mother plant, usually a plain pink or white, I have only once found a good one.
This one , however, I will be saving seed from – Helleborus argutifolius. As it is a species and not a hybrid, it will come true and I would like a few more to give to friends and sell for charity on open days.
So its out with the secateurs I’m afraid and off with their heads !! Now is the time to reward them with a small handful of fertiliser to say thank you for putting on such a wonderful display in February and March. Over the summer they can then build up their reserves for next year, not waste their energy producing seed, and do it all again!
Now that’s something I didn’t know! About the seeds. I’ve never grown Hellebores before, but I’m thinking it’s time.
You must grow them, they are the most wonderful plants that flower when we most need them – February! Thank you for visiting.