From “Hellebore (Helleborus x hybridus)” in The Story of Flowers and How They Changed the Way We Live by Noel Kingsbury:
“Hellebores are one of those flowers that, if performing in summer, would be largely ignored, since the flowers are generally dull versions of brighter colours. However, they flower very early in the year, which makes them as much appreciated by gardeners as by bees.
“The plants have long been used in herbal medicine and witchcraft, although they are quite toxic, so medical use must have been fraught with danger. The ancient Greeks ritually circled the plant with a sword before digging it up. Their early flowering made hellebores popular as garden plants from the sixteenth century onwards, especially the usually white-flowering H. niger, which is often known as the Christmas rose….
“H. orientalis was introduced from southeastern Europe in the nineteenth century; growers then began to make selections of superior forms, especially after its gene pool began to be added to by introductions from eastern Europe and the Caucasus. By the end of the century there were some fifty-odd varieties in Britain and Germany, most of which disappeared over the next century…. From the 1980s onwards, however, nurseries began seed production from carefully selected plants, and this has led to greatly increased popularity for the hellebore. The range of colours, including picotees, doubles and spotted forms, is now extensive….”
From “Helleborus” in The English Flower Garden by William Robinson:
“One of the most valuable classes of hardy perennials we have, as they flower in the open air then there is little else in bloom. They appear in succession from October till April, beginning with the Christmas Rose (H. niger), and ending with the handsome crimson kinds. The old white Christmas Rose is well known and much admired, but the handsome kinds with coloured flowers have, hitherto, not been much known.
“The Hellebores, besides being excellent border flowers, are suited for naturalising. There are a few kinds — those with inconspicuous flowers, but handsome foliage — whose only place is the wild garden, such as the native H. fotidus, H. Lividus, H. viridus, and H. bocconi, which have elegant foliage when well developed in a shady place in rich soil, like that usually found in woods.
“The Hellebores may be classed in three groups, according to the colour of the flowers — white, red, or green, which last will get little place in the garden. The white-flowered group is the most important, as it contains the beautiful old Christmas Rose.”
Hello!
In this and the next two posts, we’ll spend some time with a plant genus — Hellebores — that I’ve only photographed at Oakland Cemetery one other time, in 2024 (see Early Spring Hellebores (1 of 2) and Early Spring Hellebores (2 of 2)). Prior to 2024, I’d seen them on the property serving their prime directive as affable border plants, occupying spaces set back a few feet from sidewalks or surrounding taller and shrubbier plants like Azaleas and Lady Banks’ Rose. Most of the flowers back then were the pale green color that are common to woodland varieties like Helleborus viridis; and, as often as not, it was easy to miss the flowers hidden among the plants’ exuberant leaves. Since then, their presence at Oakland has expanded either by landscaping intention, propagation, or a little of both — so not only can I find them along the shaded areas of more pathways, but their colors and forms now appear in greater variety.
PlantNet identifies my photos as either Helleborus x hybridus or Helleborus orientalis in about equal measure, with a few of the pure white ones below identified as Helleborus niger, the admired and important Christmas Rose described by William Robinson above. This may or may not be true; I suspect from what I learned about Hellebores that these are all hybrids, possibly of each other, and we’ll progress through several of their colors and styles in the three posts. The name Helleborus orientalis, while historically in use, tends to be attributed to hybrids with flowers that are more exotic in appearance, but most are now botanically recognized as Helleborus x hybridus — or Hellebore Hybrids.
Here we’ll start with the visually more simple white color scheme flowers to some with limited veining, then to flowers that display varying pink and purple color combinations, then end with some (in the third post) with very distinctive veining and spotting — as described up top by Noel Kingsbury — that represent their intensive hybridization in the past few decades. I took the photos for this three-part series on February 25, about two-thirds of the way through their relatively long blooming period of October to April. Since I usually make plenty of visits to Oakland in late March and April because of all the spring bloomers awaiting my photoshoots, I’ll see if there are more to be found on those upcoming trips. If not, though, this series will still be quite representative of the Hellebore’s many styles and colors, and can stand on its own until next year.
Thanks for reading and taking a look!
