Helleborus
In autumn and winter, the Helleborus is one of the most popular garden plants in garden centres for months on end. People love this plant in the garden, on the balcony and on the terrace, and even enjoy its beautiful flowers indoors. So, what’s available on the market at the moment?
Breeding, breeding, breeding
The Helleborus has been improved by breeding for many decades, resulting in plants that are stronger and bloom more profusely, earlier and longer than ever before. New flower colours and shapes appear all the time. The extensive range now consists of subspecies, cultivars, hybrids and interspecific hybrids. To avoid getting lost in the maze of options, we’ve divided them into three segments in this article:
- Christmas roses
- Winter roses
- Spring roses
Christmas roses
The season kicks off with the pure white flowers of Helleborus niger, also known as Christmas Rose. These extremely strong, evergreen perennials thrive in spots sheltered from the summer sun. Christmas roses are also perfect for containers and tubs on terraces and balconies.
Helleborus niger flowers naturally in January, making it one of the earliest flowering varieties. Years of work on breeding the varieties which flower first has resulted in the Christmas rose, which is currently traded in bloom from September onwards.
Christmas Carol is the most commonly grown variety. Joel features large flowers and has an excellent vase life. The leaves of the graceful Verboom Beauty are professionally removed. This variety flowers really well indoors.
With these varieties and others, there’s a wide choice of plants in different pot sizes for every budget.
Winter roses
In recent years, we’ve been reaping the benefits of the tireless efforts of breeders who have been crossing different Helleborus varieties for many years. Recently, interspecific crosses with very special properties have become available. This new group of Hellebore varieties is very resistant, with abundant, long-lasting flowers. These plants can start blooming as early as November, and the flowers can last an incredibly long time, even into April.
What’s interesting about this group is the wide range of different flower colours.
It’s hard not to be impressed by these magnificent plants. We can deliver the first batches as early as October.
Flowers galore with Angel Glow! The flowers are initially white-pink, then take on a dark pink/green hue as they age.
Graceful red flower clusters emerge from Dacaya early in winter.
Check out the impressive varieties in the Frostkiss® series. Besides the beautiful colours of the flowers, the marbled leaves are also highly decorative, making these plants an attractive addition to the garden even outside the flowering season.
The strong Winterbells variety has beautiful, salmon-pink buds that open into drooping flowers with creamy white inner parts. During the long flowering season, the flowers turn a green-pink hue.
The creamy white flowers of Guess appear early in winter above and between the sturdy, serrated leaves.
The flowers of the Ice N’ Roses® series are clearly visible above the leaves. The effect is even more spectacular thanks to their beautiful colours. The sturdy plants flower for an exceptionally long period, and can also thrive in sunnier areas of the garden.
Spring roses
The versatility of Helleborus really comes into its own in the range of spring roses. The flowers boast captivating and diverse forms, ranging from solitary petals to intricate multi-layered arrangements. They also come in many colours, some of which are adorned with delicate speckles. These are the H. orientalis species and the hybrids crossed with H. orientalis. From January, they infuse the winter garden with colour.
You can find the range by searching for “Helleborus or”.
The first examples of this colourful range of spring roses are marketed before Christmas, then the range becomes available in its full glory after the turn of the year.
Order the orientalis mix, and amaze yourself with the spectacular range of colours, patterns and flower shapes.
Cecilia is appreciated for its romantic, single, powdery pink flowers that contrast beautifully with the pure green foliage and dark flower stems.
The flowers of Verboom Cinderella look like they come straight out of a fairy tale. The petal arrangement of the white flowers, with their dark red speckles, is very elegant.
The name says it all: the Double Ellen series is a series of orientalis varieties with double flowers.
Published on: 7 Dezembro 2023