Hellebores 2013

[Tim Ingram]

David - the flowers can be badly damaged by the cold, though they can take quite a bit, but the new leaves will grow away in the spring and summer so the plants won't be seriously affected. Here are a couple of examples at Knowle Hill Farm, on the escarpment of the North Downs not far from Maidstone. I think the frost runs away down the hill to the Weald below and the garden is ideal for hellebores, alkaline well drained soil, pretty dry in summer - I wish we could grow them like this!

[Melvyn Jope]

Earlier this week all my Hellebores were ruined by the cold and wind, they were flattened. As the weather got a little milder I'd expected them to recover a bit but they haven't. I take it I can write them off for this year (and they really were looking lovely) but is there any reason why they shouldn't come back strongly next time?

David, many of my plants have suffered in the same way from the very cold wind over the past few days, so no chance of recovery for the flowers and of course no seed available from affected plants.

[ian mcenery]

Earlier this week all my Hellebores were ruined by the cold and wind, they were flattened. As the weather got a little milder I'd expected them to recover a bit but they haven't. I take it I can write them off for this year (and they really were looking lovely) but is there any reason why they shouldn't come back strongly next time?

David mine have suffered also but mainly ones I have recently moved from my allotment where I grow to select. Are the ones you are having trouble  with recently planted or bought because the plants ability to recover and take up water  is impeded during extreme cold weather if they are not settled? If they are young plants look for new foliage buds at the base as these will grow later. When you are sure that the flowering shoots are dead remove them as they will cause rot in the crown

[David Nicholson]

Many thanks for your help Ian, Melvyn and Tim. Mine have been in situ for a few years now but have never suffered as they have these last few days. Yesterday they were flat on the ground and almost looked as if the tissue of the stalks and leaves was "shredded". Today started with a frost but by early morning (my early mornings start about 0930!) the sun was out and it got steadily warmer and some of them started to buck-up a little. I really wanted to give them some water but realised  given a frost is forecast tonight that's the worst I could do.

Picture here of one of them.
 

[Leena]

In Finland we often have may night frosts when hellebores are already flowering, and the flowering stems look flattened in the morning but they come up as soon as the weather gets warmer. This picture is from beginning of May 2011, taken early in the morning after a cold night when temperature was several degrees below zero. White Helleborus niger is like nothing has happened, but the darker hybrid (sown as Blue Metallic Lady) is flat on the ground. In the afternoon the same day it was up and like nothing had happened, and I remember that I even got seeds from it that year, and last spring 2012 it was twice the size it was 2011, so this hadn't affected to it's growth.

[Tim Ingram]

Quite a few of our hellebores look like David's plant - it has been the effect of blistering freezing winds as much as night frost. These are not likely to recover because they have become too desiccated. In more sheltered parts of the garden they look more like Leena's picture, and have perked up as the sun comes out. Such is gardening - but it has been a particularly cold and miserable spell.

[David Nicholson]

We've lived in Devon for 26 years now and I can safely say in all those years we've never experienced a cold wind like we had on Sunday/Monday and to a lesser extent Tuesday of this week. It wasn't just the wind but the frost that came with it. I'm grateful that my plants have started to become a little more upright but I'm sure Tim is right and they have suffered too much tissue damage to recover this year. The one I pictured is one of a group of three in the same area of the garden and a particularly windy area to boot and all have suffered in the same way. Others in a more shaded area I hope will come back.

[johnw]

We've lived in Devon for 26 years now and I can safely say in all those years we've never experienced a cold wind like we had on Sunday/Monday

David  - Something like les suêtes here in Cape Breton?



johnw

[ian mcenery]

One that escaped though the flowers are a little the worse for wear Helleborus multifidus hercegovinus. When the new growth comes it is spectacular. Will try to remember to post a picture when it shows

[Leena]

it has been the effect of blistering freezing winds as much as night frost. These are not likely to recover because they have become too desiccated.

Lucky me we don't have winds like that when the spring finally comes here. Most of the time I envy your climate, though.

[David Nicholson]

David  - Something like les suêtes here in Cape Breton?



johnw

Nothing like as strong as that John. I hate windy conditions, really gets to me, your les suetes would drive me mad.

[johnw]

Not my winds David.  Those suêtes winds only occur in very specific areas of Cape Breton, mainly where the western highlands drop off into the sea.  Winds come barreling down from the heights and accelerate as they plunge down to the sea.   Not too many foxtail lilies grown up there. 

johnw

[ian mcenery]

Helleborus torquatus a form I think from Bosnia photographed a couple of days ago before the SNOW

[monocotman]

Ian,
lovely thing - the leaves are so striking.
These are a couple of anemone flowered seedlings that are growing next to the mother plant and flowering for the first time.
They are both first flowers on small plants but I like them both alot.
I'll dig them up and replant them when flowering is over.
The mother plant is a nice ashwoods double white with a dark red picotee edge.
The variation in hybrid hellebore flowers seems to be unending.

Regards,

David

[ian mcenery]

Ian,
lovely thing - the leaves are so striking.
These are a couple of anemone flowered seedlings that are growing next to the mother plant and flowering for the first time.
They are both first flowers on small plants but I like them both alot.
I'll dig them up and replant them when flowering is over.
The mother plant is a nice ashwoods double white with a dark red picotee edge.
The variation in hybrid hellebore flowers seems to be unending.

Regards,

David

David thank you the plant is not easy in our climate as it emerges very early and doesn't like the on off cold wet cycle.

Nice anemone forms I have in the past grown a lot of seedlings on my allotment from selected Ashwood plants and up to 10% can be very good (Imean better than the parents) but there are an awful lot of so so ones which get given away