Re: Best soil mix for containerized hellebores?

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> From: Christopher P. Lindsey <lindsey@mallorn.com>
> I'm also busy getting my plants together for the nursery.  Last
year's
> hellebores didn't fare too well in the soil mix that I made up, so
I'm
> wondering if anyone here has any ideas about soil mixes for
hellebores
> overwintered in pots.  

Chris, I do not think hellebores love being in pots much but find
they do better in a mix that contains some soil - loam for
preference, but clay based.  Confirmed that with Graham Birkin Friday
when he was here; he uses about half peat based mix and half John
Innes as he can't get pine superfines...we can't get John Innes here,
but it is a loam based product.  I don't like peat based mixes
because they turn to mush in the bottom of the pot in only a few
months and once peat dries out in a pot it's virtually impossible to
re-wet.

I make my own using sieved compost, soil, pine superfines, composted
(bagged) manure and grit and the 200+ that I dug in Nov. and potted
seem to be doing OK; blooming and new foliage, despite getting
creamed by our Feb./March ice storms after a really warm Dec./Jan.  

You want the mix to drain really well, hence the granite
grit...chicken grit.  Oh, and I throw in a few big handfuls of wood
ash to a wheelbarrow of compost as most hellebores like a neutral to
sweet soil as opposed to acid.  You could use bagged garden grade
lime; I just have a lot of wood ash:-)  Or, maybe your soil is
already neutral to alkaline and you don't have to add anything....if
you use any peat, tho', I'd add some lime.

I do not mix in any scientific way but to a slightly rounded
wheelbarrow of compost, I add maybe 4-6 shovels full of my clay loam
based soil, I use about a half a bag of superfines, 1/3 bag of manure
and 1/3 bag of grit...or whatever feels right when I mix it.  If in
doubt re: quantity of grit, you can fill a pot, thump it up and down
to settle it and water it and see how fast it drains....should drain
right out or after watered so that water stands on top of pot, water
should drain out within in a minute or so.  If it takes much longer,
add a bit more grit to the mix. 

If you can't get grit, you can probably use vermiculite or perlite
and then put a bit of mulch on the pot so it doesn't float to the
surface when you water.  I prefer grit....grower size.  Be sure, if
you get grit, that they haven't added anything to it.  I assume for
hellebores, you could use an oyster shell based grit in lieu of the
granite I get...I wouldn't use it for any lime haters tho'.  Make
sure your pots are deep...hybrid hellebores make massive roots...all
my 3-5+ yr. old clumps went into 5-7 gal nursery containers and some
coulda used a 10 gal. if I'd had it.  I am assuming yours are young
plants and don't need that kind of size but you want to make sure the
roots have sufficient space.

Keep in mind that hellebores grow new roots in the fall - like Sept.,
Graham tells me - they grow foliage and flower in spring.  So best
moved in Sept. just as new roots start to grow.  You don't want the
roots to dry out but you need to guard against too much water and mix
that stays too wet when they are not growing new roots.

Spring report:
Galanthus are over, Mertensia virginica is starting to bloom; daffs
are in their glory and  probably going to get creamed as our temps
are going to plummet in next couple of days from 80F to lows in the
20's and high teens; hellebores are on and some are passing over;
minor bulbs (Scilla siberica, Puschkinia, etc.) are blooming;
dogwoods are in heavy bud and so is my really early azalea which will
probably also get frosted:-(.  Pieris japonica is at height of bloom.
 Hosta noses are up; Epimediums are starting to bloom, Cardamine
quinquefolia is in full blast,  Primula x variabilis has been
blooming for a couple of weeks; Pulmonaria 'Mrs. Moon' is blooming
away.....Spring has sprung!

Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@hort.net
Shadyside Garden Designs

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