When I was growing up in western New York, we generally had the annual January thaw after a prolonged cold snap.\u00a0 In my part of the world this year, we had a prolonged thaw first, followed by a daunting cold snap.\u00a0 It hardly seems fair, and is, in fact, downright disheartening.<\/p>\n
To avoid the blues, I bundled up and trundled out into the backyard.\u00a0 There are no snowdrops yet, though the English garden magazines are larded with fulsome prose about the ones opening up there.\u00a0 The tips of the daffodils are showing in the front beds, but I know they will not emerge for at least another six weeks.\u00a0 I haven\u2019t yet acquired the witch hazel of my dreams to brighten up the dull winter days, but I do have hellebores.\u00a0 My spirits rose when I looked at the Christmas rose\u2013Helleborus niger–and saw that it was full of buds.\u00a0 Two of them will open any day now, their white blooms braving the cold to announce that flowers have returned to the garden.\u00a0 Theirs is not the white flag of surrender, but the white banner of seasonal defiance.<\/p>\n
Most gardeners are familiar with the Lenten rose, aka Helleborus x orientalis. As the common name suggests, it blooms later than Christmas rose and has a broader range of flower colors. My garden is full of them and, with luck, will be home to even more in the next year or so.\u00a0 However, right now, the Christmas rose is ascendant.<\/p>\n
For those who haven\u2019t seen them, Christmas roses are low growers, rising only 8 to 12 inches in height. The stems emerge from the ground separately from the leaves, on thick stalks.\u00a0 Each stalk bears one large buttercup-like flower, with either rounded or pointed petals, depending on the variety.\u00a0 As they age, the petals begin to blush, eventually turning dusty pink and persisting on the plants for well over a month.\u00a0 A mature plant can bear twenty or more flowers in the growing season.\u00a0 In my garden the palmate leaves are evergreen, though the oldest ones look quite ratty after a full season of growth.\u00a0 As the weather begins to warm up, I clip them off to neaten up the plant.<\/p>\n
Spring is actually hellebore haircut time all over the garden, as the old, worn-out orientalis foliage gets lopped off as well.<\/p>\n
Christmas rose is one of about fifteen hellebore species and hails from parts of Europe. The Latin \u201cniger\u201d species name is intriguing, because of the absence of black in stems, leaves and flowers.\u00a0 The roots are another story, however, and the species was once known as \u201cblack-rooted hellebore.\u201d\u00a0 Other common genera, like Helleborus x orientalis and Helleborus foetidus, have white roots.<\/p>\n
One of hellebore\u2019s great virtues is that it is not appealing to deer or other marauders.\u00a0 All hellebores are poisonous and Christmas rose was once used for killing rats.\u00a0 Combined with other hellebore species, Christmas rose makes a nice groundcover for partly shaded areas where deer depredation has made gardening frustrating.<\/p>\n
There are scores of varieties and colors of Lenten rose, but Christmas rose seems to be a little less amenable to the machinations of breeders.\u00a0 English, Japanese and German plant experts, especially those at the Heuger de Blomen Nursery, have produced a large number of flower forms, but so far they only come in one color\u2014white. Still, you can pick and choose among the various forms available, including the beautiful \u2018Wilder\u2019, with very large, star-shaped flowers. \u2018Winter Moonlight\u2019 looks more like a single rose, with rounded petals and a prominent cluster of golden stamens. For lovers of double-flowered specimens, Japanese breeders have come up with \u2018Double Fantasy\u2019, featuring vigorous plants and fully double white flowers with somewhat pointed petals.<\/p>\n
Christmas rose is very happy when grown in partly shaded garden areas or in pots.\u00a0 Its only important requirement is very good drainage.\u00a0 Those gardeners with heavy clay know the drill\u2014improve heavy soil by digging in organic material, grit or sand prior to planting.\u00a0 If plants are already in, dig in soil conditioners around the plants as you can and use organic mulches, which break down and lighten the topsoil.<\/p>\n
I am tempted to clip the fattest Helleborus niger bud and bring spring into my kitchen.\u00a0 However, I think that the flower will be happier outside\u2014looking winsome and providing me with a reason to put on heavy clothes and leave the house to seek fresh air and fresh inspiration.<\/p>\n
Pineknot Farms is one of many vendors of hellebores and carries a good selection of Helleborus niger.\u00a0 Find them at 681 Rockchurch Road, Clarksville, Virginia, 23927, (434) 252-1990; www.pineknotfarms.com<\/a>. No print catalog.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When I was growing up in western New York, we generally had the annual January thaw after a prolonged cold snap.\u00a0 In my part of the world this year, we had a prolonged thaw first, followed by a daunting cold snap.\u00a0 It hardly seems fair, and is, in fact, downright disheartening. To avoid the blues, … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,2,5],"tags":[510,32,509,511,512],"class_list":["post-737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-interest","category-spring","category-winter","tag-christmas-rose","tag-hellebores","tag-helleborus-niger","tag-pineknot-farms","tag-winter-plants"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=737"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":738,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737\/revisions\/738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}