FAQ
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What is the best time to plant hellebores?
Hellebores can be planted any time when the ground is not frozen. Optimal planting time is between September and October when the plants are not in flower. Avoid planting hellebores in summer, when the ground can be too dry.
More information about planting hellebore >
What kind of place do hellebores require?
All varieties from the Helleborus Gold Collection® prefer rich and chalky soils, but will also thrive well in other locations that are not prone to waterlogging. You can improve very light and sandy soils by working in some bark humus, Dolomite lime and horn meal. Instead of Dolomite lime, you can also use crushed eggshells. Snow Roses will tolerate a sunny location. Ice N' Roses® is especially tolerant of sun! Christmas Roses and Lenten Roses prefer a place in the shade or partial shade and, above all, appreciate being protected from the blazing midday sun during the summer months. By contrast, the mild winter sun doesn't bother them. If you don't want to do without the hellebores' charm in a flower bed that is in full sun, you can plant deciduous shrubs or trees nearby. These will soon provide the partial shade that is ideal for hellebores. In the garden, hellebores appreciate lasting companions such as perennials that do not spread excessively and, like hellebores, do not crowd adjacent plants.
Are there any varieties for sunny locations?
All Snow Roses can be planted in a sunny spot, e.g. the early-flowering varieties HGC® Snow Dance® and HGC® Shooting Star® or HGC® Pink Frost with giant pink blooms.
Ice N' Roses® is especially tolerant of sun!
Are hellebores suitable as cut flowers?
Most hellebores do well as cut flowers in a vase if they are not placed in very warm spots. This means that you can decorate the house with fresh flowers from your own garden even in winter. You can improve the flowers' vase life by making incisions in the stems at the side. Blooms placed in a bowl of water, floating on the water like water lilies, make a wonderful decoration on your table.
More information and do-it-yourself instructions >
Will hellebores do well in the living room?
In order to enjoy the winter bloomers for a long time, they should be kept in a cool place in the house, watered regularly and the leaves removed as they quickly turn yellow. Helleborus perennials do not like waterlogging. Christmas Roses are valuable and hardy garden plants. When the ground is no longer frozen in spring, the winter bloomers can be planted in the garden.
Further information and great do-it-yourself ideas with Christmas Roses can be found here >
Are Christmas Roses poisonous?
All hellebores are not suitable for consumption!
Like all genera from the buttercup family, all parts of the hellebore plant are toxic, especially the rhizome. For this reason, it is recommended to handle hellebores – like all other plants that are not suitable for consumption – with normal caution, especially if the household includes children or pets. In sensitive individuals, the plant sap may produce allergic contact reactions. For this reason, you should always wear gloves when handling the plant. Hellebrin, a phytochemical isolated from hellebores, is used in modern medicine, and Helleborus niger is a well-known homeopathic remedy. This is why Paracelsus' law also applies to hellebores: “All substances are poisonous, there is none that doesn’t contain poison; the right dosage makes the difference between a poison and a remedy.”