Those seedlings have a way of planting themselves in places not quite to our choosing, moving them isn't unreasonable :)

Young hellebores have a fairly extensive root system, to lift seedlings I will use something with a longer length, like my Japanese garden knife - it's shaped like a long narrow trowel that is serrated on one side. Are you transplanting into a site with quite a bit of organic matter in the soil (either naturally or added), keeping them moist? In my mild climate I could lift and move seedlings at just about any time, but ideally moving hellebores is best right before they put out a flush of new root growth - and that is Fall, not Spring.

Here is a link that might be useful:

morz8, thanks for the information. I am pretty sure I moved them in spring. I usually have a pretty good amount of organic matter in all my beds. I work in a lot of leaves or mulch with them anyway. Dryness could have been an issue. We have a dry yard and some summers have been really dry. I'll try moving them in the Fall and paying more attention to the watering. Thanks...and thanks for the photo too. :-)

morz8 & prairiemoon2,

Thank you! (I've got seedlings too.)

Thanks for the picture! I've also had greater success moving seedlings that are aged a bit. The ones I dig out in early spring don't have the success rate of those I move in the fall. Problem is that the parent plants fill out over the summer so it is easier to get at seedlings in the spring. I've started just pulling out the itty babies around established plants to avoid over crowding. and there are usually plenty of babies far enough away from the parents so as not to disturb the parents when I dig them up.

A few of my hellebores seem to have self seeded this year. It's possible that they have done so in the past, and I just unknowingly, "weeded" them out. There are two or 3 little dense patches of seedling, just cotyledons so far. If I want to encourage them to grow into mature plants, is it really better to just leave them until fall? (I think thats what I read in this thread?) Is it just a fight for the fittest? There are 15-20 in each group and they are within a 4" diameter of space. My instinct is to dig them up separate them and place them into more spacious surroundings.