Given a choice, you will have better results with a potted plant, however small. Of all the bare root Helleborus that I have ever purchased, not one survived past the first year and some never showed any signs of new growth. I have a friend that has grown and sold Helleborus by mail-order for about 25 years and he states that he would NEVER ship one bare-root, nor will he sell one locally without the soil attached.
Rb

Hi Razorback33,
I agree with jwoodard, it is in how the plant is handled. I have never had a problem with bare root hellebores, they should be dug, divided, shipped and replanted promptly. I also think large divisions is the way to go.

In my zone USDA 5, I divide and transplant hellebore all spring into summer and early fall. I send bare root plants most seasons of the year and receiving gardeners have reported good results.

How else can we exchange clones of hellebores if not by divisions.

Cheryl, the success of buying bare root perennials is with the grower and gardener. If both know how to handle hellebores you will no doubt have success. Check the grower out, go to Doug's Watchdog and do a search.

Always Gardening,
Bruce

I agree with Joseph and Bruce. My opinion is a rather strong one and I get tired of reading in books, magazines, etc. that hellebores resent their roots being disturbed. The caulescent species (H. foetidus, H. argutifolius and H. lividus) are more difficult to deal with but not impossible. The acaulescent group, which includes the hybrids, really don't protest all that much to their roots being disturbed. Okay, so a recently divided/bare rooted hellebore may take a year off of flowering but this often has nothing to do with being divided/bare rooted and everything to do with the plant simply not being large enough to produce flowers.

Like Bruce, I deal with a considerable amount of divisions every year and can count annual losses on one hand. I have collected plants from wild colonies which means that plants often get carried around in a suitcase for a week or so. I bare root them and wrap the plants in damp kitchen towel and then in bubble wrap. I have never lost a plant that I have collected from the wild. Indeed, a very well known grower of species hellebores here in the UK, sends hundreds of bare rooted divisions out every year and nearly all survive.

Bruce hit the nail on the head; whether or not your bare rooted hellebores survive is entirely in the hands of the person that bare rooted it and/or the recipient. The plant cannot be blamed if it dies! I pot all of my bare rooted divisions into a very well drained mix that contains a large amount of composted bark. I'm sure that many people fail with such plants because they pot the division into a stodgy mix that holds far too much water. The mix that I use needs watering more often than a 'normal' mix but never becomes waterlogged.

If a hellebore that was received bare rooted does go dormant soon after being potted up, DON'T throw the pot away. I have received bare rooted species plants in May/June which have gone dormant only three or four weeks later and not emerged until the following February, having suffered no ill effects as a result of their prolonged dormancy.

If only we could put the myth that hellebores resent disturbance to bed once and for all.

Tim

Re: the bare root problem(?): I'm fairly new to Hellebores. I started with a dozen of the Pine Knot plants last fall. This spring I impulsively bought three H. atrorubens that were "dirt cheap." This was during Wayside's "we've got to get rid of this stuff before it crokes" spring sale. Well, what I received was not only bare root - it was all root and nothing but root. I potted them up in some good dirt, snuggled the pots in under the gardenias, and babied them all summer. They were soon putting up leaves. I planted them in the ground in early September and they've put on steady growth ever since. Never give up on them. Just an observation from a novice who didn't know any better.

I bought a dozen large divisions from lentenrose.com sometime in May of this year. They were all 3 to 5 leaved large divisions with woody crowns. I planted them in a recently cleared sunny area with sandy soil that I amended with some compost and lime. I planted them about 2 inches deep. They baked all summer and I really though I was going to lose them. We had a fairly dry summer in Massachusetts. I watered them weekly if there wasnt any rain. Once the weather cooled down in October, they all started out flushing out new leaves. Is this too early? I also had to dig some up to transplant them further away from eachother as they look like they are going to grow much bigger much faster than anticipated. The smaller division from greenthumbsgalore.com sent up a few small leaves during the summer but havent grown much. Those are a few feet away in a bit more shade.

I've had about 95 percent success rate potting bare root hellebores divisions up.

And about 90 percent success planting them out in beds directly with little watering...even planting after they have been in plastic bag with wet newspaper and moss for over a week with similar results, all in the heat of summer.

Max Phelps

Rock Castles Landscaping

I would note April seedlings only weeks old pulled up and promptly potted live nearly 100 percent if put in a shady spot and watered before they become bone dry.

Look for seedlings around plants that have bloomed for at least two years.

Many of the seedlings will be almost like the parent.

Here at Rock Castles Landscaping we have had over 90 percent survival planting one to three eye divisions bareroot directly into naturalized areas in a landscape. Or around 95% if potted within a week or so from the digging. Max Phelps

Yes, I have successfully grown hellebores from bare root and they have done very well. They were planted six years ago and still healthy.