Heaven and Hellebores

Fresh picked beauties

A year ago, I had never heard of Hellebores. And now, all varieties of colors, sizes and shapes are under my care and greet me when I walk around the garden. I am so grateful to the previous owner for creating this lovely winter oasis. It must have been very hard for her to leave it behind.

When I trimmed away the old leaves
and saw these purple veined flowers,
I gasped at their beauty.

Every day it seems there is a fresh debut of another gorgeous variation of plums, purples, pinks and whites in the amazing assortment of Hellebores that surround our property.

Dark plum center with
dainty plum veins

Thanks to several warm spring-like days, I'm gradually making progress at trimming the old leaves. So far, I've managed to refresh about a half of the sixty or so plants.The plants that have had their old leaves trimmed off look young and fresh while the flowers on the untrimmed plants are hidden under a shaggy green mane.

After the leaves are cleared away, I work compost into the soil around the plants. According to the Mercer County Horticulturist (and our Master Gardener Advisor), the unhealthy looking leaves shown in the previous blog may have been caused by a lack of organic matter. Considering how lovely the soil is to work with, and all the leaf mulch everywhere, I find that hard to believe. But there's probably no such thing as too much organic matter. And it just so happens that one of my compost piles has reached the chocolate cake crumbs stage and I can put it to good use.

Exquisite plum specks on a cream
to mauve gradated background

Rash Behavior

One of Hellebores' most beautiful qualities is that deer don't eat them. That's probably because they're poisonous. (Some ancient societies used Hellebores as a substitute for Digitalis). The poison gives me a rash where the leaves touch my skin. Now I wear rose gloves that go up to my elbows. And, I've added a new post-exposure regime that involves washing my hands and face with dish detergent to remove toxic oils from the plant and then I take an antihistamine to prevent allergic reactions.

Plum with lavender veins

It's a small price to pay in order to enjoy such exquisite beauty.

Hellebores Chores Galore

Hamamelis Intermedia (Witch Hazel)

One of the side effects of all these Master Gardener Classes I've been attending is that I've learned about the myriad problems that lurk in New Jersey gardens. The weeds that have obsessed me since I moved here are benign in comparison. Now I have to watch for hordes of pathogens that thrive in New Jersey growing conditions as we as the plants.

Unhealthy Helebores

In recent days, there has been a drastic shift in how I experience the garden. My delight in discovering new blossoms of Hamamelis (Witch Hazel) was diminished by the spots I saw on leaves of Hellebores (Lenten Roses).  Were those black spots there before? I ran to the book on Hellebores that the previous owner left me. I think it might be a fungus called Black Spot (of all things). It said to cut back all the diseased leaves and NOT put them into my compost pile.

Dipping garden shears in bleach
between cuttings prevents
the spread of pathogens

I put on heavy wool socks, a warm winter hat, donned long underwear under my sweats, squeezed glove liners inside my gardening gloves, grabbed some shears and poured some bleach into a container. As the leaves were removed, my despair mingled with delight when I discovered flower buds emerging. Different plants were unveiling different shades of purple, maroon, pink and white.

Well Groomed Hellebores

That was good news and bad news. Because I also learned from the Hellebores book that you're supposed to trim away old leaves when the buds start to emerge. That's not so easy when it's 40° out. It's even harder when you have roughly 60 plants to trim! After two days, I only have about 50 more to go.

Things were so much simpler in Boulder. My little garden was safe from a host of insects, viruses, bacteria and molds because they and their plant hosts didn't like the climate. But my little garden didn't have Witch Hazel and Hellebores blooming in February.

New Hellebores are budding