A double take on hellebores

By Barbara Blossom Ashmun

The Portland Tribune, Mar 1, 2005, Updated Oct 30, 2009

I can’t get through winter without my hellebores. You’d think the hundreds in my garden would be enough. But after visiting the Northwest Flower and Garden Show in Seattle, I came down with a bad case of craving for the new double forms.

Until recently I’d been loyal to the modest single-flowering hellebores. By comparison, the doubles looked like ruffled showoffs. But it’s a gardener’s prerogative to change, and now I love the doubles, too. The Seattle show was so hectic that I couldn’t decide between pink and white, so I waited for a more peaceful opportunity to choose.

Back in Portland, I headed for Honeyhill Farms Nursery, Audrey and Jim Metcalfe’s hellebore haven. The Metcalfes grow them in masses, always looking for the best plants to use for propagating. You’ll see good examples of companion plants, too Ñ hardy cyclamen, snowdrops and winter daphne.

Honeyhill is open by appointment in February and March, when an array of pink, green, ivory, white and wine hellebores light up the woodland garden (503-292-1817 orhoneyhillfarmsnursery.com). Many are in pots, ready to whisk away, and most of those growing in nursery beds also are available to be dug. It took me 10 minutes to find a favorite frilly double with burgundy speckles.

Another gem I couldn’t leave behind is a hybrid called “Honeyhill Joy,” with masses of single creamy white flowers that age to a pale green. It has the best qualities of its parents Ñ dark green leaves with jagged edges, thanks to the Corsican hellebore, and white flowers courtesy of the Christmas rose (Helleborus niger).

“Honeyhill Joy” is an ideal height, about 18 inches tall, midway between the leggy Corsican hellebore, which tends to topple over with the weight of its flowers, and the short Christmas rose, which hugs the ground almost too low to be noticed.

“Christmas rose makes a good parent for its nice big white up-facing flowers,” Jim Metcalfe explains. He’s been growing hellebores from seed for more than 40 years, and has an eye for excellence.

While most hellebores hang down shyly Ñ you have to tip the flowers up to see their faces Ñ “Honeyhill Joy” looks up at you, so that you can enjoy the blossom more directly. Not only that, but each stem on “Honeyhill Joy” carries a large quantity of flowers, like a bouquet.

What do hellebores need to grow well?

1 | 2 Next Page >>

Facebook	Digg	Del.icio.us
Newsvine	Stumbleupon	Reddit