How to plant and care for Hellebores

Hellebore growing guide

As lovely as Hellebores are they are not the easiest plant to grow. I recently bought some myself and was given a growing guide with them. The following information is from both the growing guide and my own personal experience with these plants.

 

The correct climate and planting location for Hellebores in Australia

In Australia Hellebores can be grown in Victoria and Tasmania. They will grow as far north as Sydney but they are ideally suited to the colder weather of the Southern states. As you may have guessed these plants are not effected whatsoever by frosts. Hellebores do not like sandy soil or waterlogged heavy clay soils so something in between is needed. The planting position of Hellebores is important. They need to be shaded in summer and have as much sun as possible in winter. This is why people always tell you to plant them under deciduous trees.

Planting Hellebores

Hellebores have very fast growing root systems so you need to plant the as soon as possible. They put on most of their growth in winter so planting them as early as possible in the cool seasons gives them more of a chance to establish themselves. Plant them about 60cm apart and loosen the roots before planting. Incorporate organic matter into the soil before planting and water in afterwards.

Hellebore maintenance

When new growth starts to show through in late autumn remove all old growth. Late autumn is also time to feed these plants as the main growth occurs in winter. During the warm months inspect the plants for aphids. Hellebores usually need 2 to 3 years to establish before flowering will occur.

Conclusion

If you follow these instructions your Hellebores should thrive. The main point is the planting location. They really do need as much sun as possible in winter to put on a good show of flowers. Some people have told me that they need full sun but in my experience I have seen Hellebores flowering well in locations with an eastern aspect so they would only be getting full sun for half a day. Good luck!

Visit to Post Office Farm Nursery, Hellebore growers and hybridizers.

Earlier today I braved the cold Macedon Ranges winter environment to visit Post Office Farm Nursery which is a Hellebore grower and hybridizer located outside Woodend not far from my home. In my opinion Post Office Farm produces the best Hellebore hybrids in Australia and being a wholesale supplier the nursery is only open to the public during certain times of the year. It was great to see what this sort of production environment looked like on the inside and it was surprisingly not as mechanized as I thought it may have been. All processed apart from watering looked to be done by hand in contrast to the plug growers I have heard about which have robotics most of the duties. The selection of hellebores on offer was amazing and I strongly suggest you visit yourself if you have the inclination to do so (links to the website are below). If you like the Hellebores they produce you can also find their hellebores labelled as 'Winter Elegance'. In retail nurseries. I will write a blog entry with more info about hellebores and also growing / care instructions in the near future.



Links

Post Office Farm Nursery
http://www.postofficefarmnursery.com.au/

Winter Elegance range of hellebores
http://www.helleborus.com.au/series.html

Peter Leigh (owner and manager of Post Office Farm) giving a talk about hybridizing. He gives tours on Sundays and provides lots of information about growing and caring for these sensitive plants. Notice the black coloured Hellebores at his feet.

So many plants. I think these ones were about 12 months old.

More advanced plants. The price is significantly higher for a more established plant such as these.

Below are the pots which contain sown seed from the hybrid plants. They looked to be growing in a very rocky growing medium. From here they are pricked out by hand and transplanted into tubes.

The plants pictured below are Peter Leigh's collection of Hellebore sp. plants he has grown from seed sent from overseas. Some are used to create hybrids for sale. Others are just collection plants.

This is where the magic happens. It is the shade house where the stock plants are hand pollinated to create hybrid seed which grow into the plants they sell. What you see below is only an eighth of the total amount of stock plants that were in this area. 

These last shots are of several of the flowers on the stock plants. I could have photographed all day as there were so many plants.