Hellebores can make
such a huge impact as they flower so much earlier than anything else.
Try cutting them though and they hang their heads so limply as to put
you off ever trying again. The only way to cut them is to float them
in water as in the picture above.
They are easy enough
but I find that many of ours are dying out. Given my interest in
long-term plant performance I have been monitoring this and
discussing it with other gardeners. The consensus is that from about
ten years onwards many do go into a decline. This is not surprising
as they seed (or can do) so extensively which suggests something
which is not going to be with us for ever. So, all the plants I paid
such good money for from Ashwood Nurseries and Wendy Perry all those
years ago are now pretty well vanished. They initially seeded well –
I dug a load up and planted them out, leaving many others to grow in
the bed.
The seedlings I have
left, i.e. next to their parents, have never really taken off.
Despite it looking like initially they would smother everything else,
they have never gotten that big and are now beginning to die too. All
I can think is that they cannot cope with the competition of the
roots of the overgrown hedge behind them. The very best ones are
right up the top where the hedge is further back. Elsewhere in the
garden we have a few magnificent plants, but always well away from
shade or tree roots.
So, a bit of a crisis
for something that was always such a feature of the garden in late
winter. The seedlings I had dug up seven or so years ago have done
well, breeding relatively true from seed, so we have had some good
plants to move elsewhere or give away. It was interesting to note
however the difference in vigour and how this was linked to flower
colour (genes on the same chromosome?). I had set out the seedlings
in order of size in a nursery bed, and all the largest ones turned
out to be red, which actually is the least interesting colour of all.
The picotees seem particularly lacking in umph. In looking at this
lot the other day, I realise that there is only one in the nursery bed left which was
worth doing anything with, a very spotty white. So I divided it,
feeling as if I was taking the plant's life in my hands as they do
not divide well, and you do end up doing terrible damage to them,
crushing flowers and leaves as you do so. Hopefully the rather
miserable looking divisions with a few leaves sticking out at odd
angles will take. The roots are most active in the late winter, when
they flower, so this is the best time to carry out this perilous
operation.
These seedlings had
originally been collected from around good plants, the seeds being so
heavy that you can be pretty sure which plant a seedling has come
from. I tried to find some more around good ones this year, but it is
a struggle, and even when very small, the seedlings have very long
roots and can be difficult to extricate from the ground.
I shall have to try to
save seed again this year, but this is not easy, because as soon as
it is ripe it seems to hurl itself out of the seed pods. I have tried
tying little muslin bags (thanks to eBay I now have a whole packet of
these) around the maturing pods but they are actually too small – I
need the next size up.
Going to buy expensive
seed from Ashwood or Jelitto or somebody is going to feel like a
defeat, let alone having to take out a mortgage to buy new plants. So we shall have to develop a Hellebore Conservation Action Plan.
