CHRISTMAS ROSE
If you aspire to be fashionable in the world of horticulture, you must have hellebores. This year’s catalogs have more of them than last year’s, and last year’s had more of them than the catalogs that came out two years ago. The hellebore hybridizers and merchandisers have been very, very busy.
Sometimes catalog vendors will lure the uninitiated into the hellebore fold by referring to the two most popular species by their romantic common names: “Christmas Rose” and “Lenten Rose”. The latter are hybrids, often sold as Helleborus orientalis, though they really should be tagged Helleborus x hybridus. Fortunately, the only thing most people care about is that the common orientalis types are sturdy plants that thrive in partial shade and bloom in early spring. The flowers, which look a little like single roses, have five petals, last for many weeks and come in an increasing number of colors and color combinations. The dark green leaves are nearly evergreen in my Zone 6 garden. By spring they look relatively ratty, however, and I make a practice of cutting them off as the flowers come into bloom. This is the best way to showcase the blooms, which often face downward.
But enough about the orientalis types. They will get my pulse pounding in another two months. Right now I am inspired by Helleborus niger, also known as “black hellebore” or the “Christmas Rose”. Yesterday I went out into my back garden, where little patches of snow remain from the last storm and much of the ground is still soft, to check on the hellebores. My large Helleborus niger presides over the end of a raised bed where the good drainage and lightly shaded conditions have enabled it to thrive for the past five years. I lifted one of the clusters of large green leaves, and nestled underneath, like a clutch of chicks under a broody hen, were twelve to fifteen flower buds. I estimate that if the weather cooperates, these buds, which are borne on short, leafless stems, should open in about two weeks.
When the buds open, the one-and-a-half-inch flowers will be a pristine white color, with rounded petals. After about two weeks or so, the flowers will begin to turn pink, with the pink color darkening over time. The flowers persist for at least a couple of months. When the first ones appear, I usually clip a single blossom to float in a saucer in the house. The rest remain on the plant because it would be a crime to deprive the sleeping garden of its one spot of flowery beauty.
Unlike its flashier, orientalis-type cousins, the Christmas rose only comes in one color–white. However, that does not mean that plant breeders have not worked hard to improve on the species. ‘HGC Josef Lemper’ is a German variety, propagated by using tissue culture to produce clones. The bright-white flowers are big and saucer-like and may bloom for up to four months. The stems are taller than average, which means the flowers rise well above the lower growing leaves. The ‘Blackthorn Strain’ of H. niger was bred in England, and its petals’ ends are pointed rather than completely rounded. The stems, petioles or leaf stalks, and even the anthers in the flowers’ centers, may have a reddish cast. Another European import, ‘Maximus’, features flowers with even more prominently pointed petals. These reputedly stay white longer than those of the ‘Blackthorn’ hellebores, which begin to turn pink very quickly after opening. The ‘Wilder Strain’ bears flowers with pointed petals and slightly wavy petal edges. ‘Winter Moonlight’, an extremely vigorous strain selected by the hellebore specialists at Pine Knot Farms in Virginia, blooms for six months on its home turf. It also features flower stems that sometimes bear two blossoms apiece and can grow as tall as fifteen inches. The petals are rounded.
Lovers of double-flowered specimens can delight in ‘Double Fantasy’, which hails originally from Japan. The plant produces some flowers that are fully double while others are semi-double or even single. The outer petals are softly pointed.
Helleborus niger are alpine plants that grow wild in mountainous regions of central Europe. This explains their low-growing nature as well as their need for good drainage. Raised beds or rock gardens make them happy, though well amended soil can also create a congenial situation. Deer and other animals will not eat them, as the plant parts are poisonous. Like many toxic plants, H. niger has a history of use–in controlled amounts–for medicinal purposes. Now that we have a variety of synthesized drugs to treat paralysis, gout and insanity, the species serves only one medicinal purpose–as a visual remedy for seasonal affective disorder.
Pine Knot Farms has an excellent collection of hellebores, including many Helleborus niger. They are at 681 Rockchurch Road, Clarksville Virginia, 23927; tel. phone 434-252-1990; www.pineknotfarms.com. No printed catalog. Buy ‘HGC Josef Lemper’ from Plant Delights Nursery, Inc. 9241 Sauls Road, Raleigh, NC 27603/; tel. 919-772-4794; www.plantdelights.com. For printed catalog send ten first-class stamps or one box of chocolates.