Re: hellebore bloom time
- Subject: Re: hellebore bloom time
- From: M* T*
- Date: Tue, 9 Apr 2002 02:44:22 -0400
Barb, not a northern gardener, but, FWIW, Hellebores demand good
drainage; they abhor wet feet. While they will take a lot of shade,
they actually often grow in a good bit of sun in their native lands.
I don't think your failure under the shrub was due, however, to too
much shade, because I have them thriving in full shade from shrubs
and deciduous trees. Likely some other factor at play there. Could
have had too much root competition from the shrub before it had a
chance to establish ...could simply have not been a really robust
plant in the first place.
Most H. x hybridus should be hardy for you, but IMO, you would need
to site the plants so that they were not in the path of your winter
winds.
You might have more difficulty with the caulescent species because
their growth pattern makes them a bit more vulnerable to heavy snow
or winter blasts, and I do not think H. argutifolius would be hardy
for you at all.
Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@hort.net
Editor: Gardening in Shade
-----------------------------------------------
Current Article: Online Nurseries 2002 - Garden Vision
http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/shade_gardening
------------------------------------------------
Complete Index of Articles by Category and Date
http://mtalt.hort.net/article-index.html
------------------------------------------------
All Suite101.com garden topics :
http://www.suite101.com/topics.cfm/635
----------
> From: Barb Pernacciaro <barp@idcnet.com>
>
> I have tried unsuccessfully two times to grow hellebores here in S.
> Wisconsin and would love to hear where northern gardeners have
theirs sited.
> I tried under some bushes for shade - maybe it was too shady, and
in a damp
> shady place next to the house where I suspect the drainage is not
good.
> The photos of hellebores in the catalogs make me drool and gnash my
teeth in
> frustration. It would be wonderful to have another early spring
flower to
> mark the end of our seemingly unending winter.
>
> -Barb P.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE PERENNIALS
