Gardeners Tips

Cistus or Rock Rose are evergreen and provide a blast of colour in early summer. The flowers of rock rose are short lived, but, a healthy plant can provide a multitude of new flowers every day throughout high summer.

Growing Requirements for Cistus

• Well Drained soil. Rock roses are susceptible to root rot. If necessary add grit or sand to the base.
• Full Sun (Rock roses originate from the Mediterranean.
• Poor to moderately fertile soil. It is not necessary to feed rock roses, in fact, they can give better performances in average soil. Over fertilising them will encourage lush green growth at the expense of flowers. The new growth may be more susceptible to winter frosts

Optional requirements

Dead head after flowering (although this will be a lot of work and isn’t essential for a long display)

Pinch out growing stems after flowering to encourage bushy growth

Easy to propagate from cuttings

A national collection and authority on the species is Bob Page who gives talks on his passion for the Cistaceae family. http://www.cistuspage.org.uk/

These are more than your Irish Dahlias. At 12″ high they are not just for the little people.

There was a young man from Australia

On his bottom he painted a Dahlia

The heat of it all

Caused the petals to fall

And the scent was a terrible failure

Single Dahlias for Bees & Butterflies

Star Wars a 12″ high and wide bush.
Pretty Woman Pink petals around a pink discette
Braveheart with bronze foliage.
See also Bishops Children

Hellebores are sturdy long lived plants that do not need a lot of attention. They flower in dark months of winter and are happy in shade or dappled sunshine.

Hellebore – Christmas Rose or Helleborus Niger

A white flower in the depths of winter from December onward.

• In Autumn you can cut the old leaves off so the flowers are visible later
• The plants self seed and germinate quite well – pot up young seedlings if you want to move them and grow on
• Plants thrive in shade and under trees

Hellebore – Lenten Rose or Helleborus Orientalis

• As the name suggests this flowers slightly later in March April
• Originally flowers had 5 petals, white with green flecks but there are now many hybrid varieties with some strong colours. I like the virtually black variety
• Hybrids crossed with Helleborus Odorus tend to be yellow and have some scent

Stinking Hellebore

• Fresh green foliage in spring
• Green flowers

National Collection of Hellebores

http://www.hadlow.ac.uk/gallery/National-Collection-of-Hellebores

Yellow Hellebores

Heleborus hybridus ‘Bradfield Buttercup Yellow’ has fewer of the speckles normally associated with helebores and looks all the better for that.

‘Heronswood Yellow’ is opening its buds from January but looks good in the March sunshine.

O’Byrne’s Mellow Yellow strain is available in USA but many so called Yellow Helebores are cream and off white. Look out for any good colour and try collect seed. If the subsequent plants are not of the right colour be ruthless in weeding them out.

Helleborus orientalis Yellow Lady is not a variety I have seen.

Gardeners Tips

• Preserve the Hellebore leaves as long as possible. Trim them off one by one as they begin to look tatty and by late winter any remaining old leaves should be clipped off to make room for the new.

• There are a great number of hybrid Hellebores so consider buying when they are still in flower so you get a colour you want

Hellebores can be grown from fresh seed available from Thompson & Morgan

Hellebores are not just for Christmas as in Christmas Rose there are species that are also called Lenten Roses.
Generally they bloom between December and April depending on the type and conditions.

Hellebore Facts

• The majority of Hellebores are deep rooted, stout plants well-known for their thick, shiny green foliage.
• The large leaves may survive through winter but not all plants are evergreen.
• Once established, most Hellebores make drought resistant plants particularly if given some dappled shade in summer.
• Happy in shade plants will perform their best if given some sun.
• Wild species grow in open meadows with only short grass for shading the roots.
• Hellebores are acaulescent which means they have leaves but flower without stems straight from the ground

Gardening with Hellebore
Hellebore heaven or hell

Visit Hellebore.org