Very nice.

I have been checking on my hellebores in the front yard bed - so far, no blooms (though they have intermittently flowered during winter in past seasons).

Thanks! I was very surprised as last Spring it only grew leaves.

We are having a cold front coming in tonight. What is your experience when they bloom in winter and the temperature drops?

So far I only have leaves, this it's first year.

That was me last year! I wonder if they take off a year due to establishing themselves. My mother had many seedlings that I greedily dug up and transported to my home. I'm going to search this forum and the hellebore forum to see what has already been shared

Hellebores can take quite a bit of cold (easily into the low teens), but those hellebores should not be blooming now. It's the extreme warmth all fall and winter that's got them blooming so early.

I'm in the lower Hudson Valley of NY (6B) and my Maestros are in full bloom right now too. They were just planted this past summer. We have had a few weeks in the 50s and 60s so I think they took advantage of the warmth. Looks like we'll be returning to more typical winter weather in the coming days but still above freezing during the day, so I'm hoping the blooms will hold on for awhile.

I am hoping the cold temperatures don't freeze the blooms as well! I figure most Spring plants are rather frost hardy to a degree, but this is new to me. A search of the forum only served to get me severely side tracked into some really interesting historical threads.

Any pictures???? ;)

I am going to disagree about the blooming time for hellebores :-) They are true winter bloomers and in milder winter climates (zones 7 and 8), now is the expected time for many of them to bloom. The ballardiae hybrids, of which 'Maestro' is an example, are early bloomers and late December/early January is pretty much on schedule for them. It is only that much of the country normally experiences a much colder, snowier winter than they have so far so blooming hellebores are not typically seen until the weather eases a bit in late winter/early spring.

In my garden, which has so far experienced a very typical winter weather-wise (except for a bit....okay, a LOT!......more rain than normal), including a couple of hard frosts and current temps barely hitting the 40's, all my hellebores are in bud or bloom. The sequence is along these lines:

Helleborus foetidus - buds in November, flowers in December (lasting indefinitely)

Helleborus niger and H. argutifolius - flowers in December (also lasting indefinitely)

ballardiae, sterni and ericsmithii hybrids - December/January (and on)

The xhybridus types are usually the latest to bloom (at least in my area) and generally do not start flowering until late January or early February although several of mine are currently showing large colored buds and will be open in another week or so.

IME, hellebores are pretty tolerant of colder temperatures when in flower - we often get sharp cold spells during their boom period (20's, sometimes lower) and other than looking a bit limp and wilty during the worst of the cold, they rebound as soon as the temps mellow a bit. Doesn't seem to faze the flowering at all.

Gardengal, how long do the blooms on your ballardiae hybrids last? Have you found that the bloom period is shortened by a cold winter?

Gardengal, ye gods, you are a fount of knowledge! Good to know that the blooms will be relatively unaffected. Also interesting that this might be the typical blooming time.

ajs, my hellebore flowers last until I cut them off......seriously, last year's remnants would still be in place (bedraggled and tattered, I'm sure) if they weren't physically removed! They have amazing staying power!! But I am thinking your question has more to do with new flower production. My area never gets cold enough to retard or slow flower development, so I'm not sure how to answer your question :-) Temperatures in the 30's is certainly no concern and mine continue to produce even into the 20's (on occasion). IME, the x ballardiae hybrids continue to churn out new flowers over a very long period of time despite some unfavorable weather conditions. But I don't really have experience with them in severely cold weather, like extended periods into the teens or lower.

My knowledge of hellebores comes from a passion for these plants - the more enthused I become about a plant type, the more I read, learn about and grow these plants. Early on in my professional gardening career, hellebores struck my fancy (as did hardy euphorbias, clematis and hardy geraniums) so I dug into a lot of research and was able to talk to a number of hellebore specialists and breeders and gathered enough information and growing experience that I now give classes and lectures locally in growing and caring for hellebores.

A brief but relevant hijack: My two 10 buck hellebores have also been happy in small-ish urns for the last 3 weeks while the weather was in the 40s to 60s. Steadily pushing blooms from an abundance of buds.

Today is our first real day of winter weather with snow and sleet and likelihood of continued 'normal' winter weather in the 30s and below (occasional zero degree days).

My question is about what to do with the hellebores now that is "real" winter . The ground is not frozen yet so I could quickly transplant them to the garden or a raised bed. Plenty of pine needles available for when the ground does freeze. Take them out of the pots and leave in urns or plant?

Thanks for the help.

Marie, not a hijack at all - I look forward to the answers. I have no personal knowledge, but would assume that the pots would get too cold in Boston so I would opt for transplanting. The other option might be a cold garage if you want to keep them potted but dormant. Reading the hellebore forum, it seems they don't need a dormancy period, but I personally don't have the set up to care for perennials indoors.

Arlene, yours is pinker than mine! Color me jealous ;) Thank you for sharing your photo.

no garage here, but there is a garden shed. I'm afraid if I put them there I will not remember them until mid summer. If Gardengal agrees I"ll plant them outdoors and mulch in a few weeks.

Marie, if you can, I'd go ahead and plant them :-) They actually sell blooming hellebores now as temporary houseplants (like hydrangeas and azaleas, etc.) so it IS possible to keep them indoors but I think they'd be much happier in the ground. And require far less attention!!

Posierosie, I believe it might be my camera filter making it appear to have more of a pinkish hue than it does in reality. I'd say it's identical to yours in coloration. I added Pink Frost to my Hellebore garden this fall and am curious about the difference between these two cultivars as I have had a hard time differentiating between them in photos. Maybe it will be apparent in person once I see a bloom on PF. It's hard not to develop an affection for tough yet delicate looking plants like these, especially when they are the only blooms around to be found.

Lovely!

Beautiful plants! I usually only see such well grown specimens when they come off the truck from the PNW, never around here :)

I will likely lose all the blooms on the earliest ones such as the niger based hybrids, they're hit or miss for me, even some of the xhybridus are up now and will be damaged when temperatures drop this week.... but there are still plenty of later ones, and I wouldn't trade this mild winter for the usual ice and snow!

From my garden the other day :~) (no ID)

Beautiful! Love the dots.

It got down into the 20s today. I never got around to planting the ones in the urns in open ground, as I was advised. So I pullled the pots out of the urns and brought them inside. They looked dead,limp,olive-black. Now they are perky, the flowers are upright and blooming away. I know the soil in the raised beds is frozen, so not sure where to plant them.

I'll either have to pour hot water over the soil or keep them inside until spring.

They are astonishing plants.

Marie

Like the OP, several of my hellebores came into bloom from the terrifyingly warm/hot weather. Last night it finally got cold--about 12 this morning. The blooms and buds will be toast. Will be interesting to see if they bloom again at their proper bloom time in late March.

Yep, I am fairly confident that there will be more blooms to come. Mine tend to put out new bud growth for around 6 weeks - some of the earlier blooms will have fully swollen nectaries while new growth is still coming forth from the base...and most of the stray early starters have been single blooms so I am enjoying the show and looking forward to a second act.

I had been rescuing seedlings from a variety of sources - friend's gardens mostly, and was astonished at the variety since I grow mostly species and just the common (and slightly dull) greyish pink orientalis. Apart from one cherished yellow, I paid little attention to the lenten roses but was astounded to see frilly doubles, deep slates and plums, a couple of pure white (not niger), gloriously vivid lime green and a beautiful bright red...obviously scrounged from gardeners who are happier to splash the cash than this tightwad cheapskate (who has paid money only once in a couple of decades...for the aforementioned yellow)..

Campanula, your collection sounds so beautiful with all the colors. I have been spending a lot to establish my garden, but I have discovered a local swap and hope to be sharing/giving generously soon. :)

It was 14F this morning (waves to WV) and will be up and down from now on. I don't mind if this is my only bloom, but wouldn't mind another flush later either. ;)

Well hellebores are perfect for sharing - look around any plant and plenty of fat seedlings are obligingly stout and easy to trowel out and pot up. I never had space in my home garden, or even the allotment to really let rip with all the colours and forms of named cultivars...but if any plant looks good in drifts and swathes, it is a colony of hellebores and I forsee a great future for them in my woodland.

An update, here was my plant a week ago or so after 3ft of snow knocked it down. "Flowers" still there, but on the ground.

Mine look exactly the same. Do you guys cut back the flattened foliage in the spring or is that a no-no for some reason?

Here is my Maestro from yesterday evening, still going strong. The flowers seem to wake up on the ground each morning, but perk upright once the temperature rises during the day. I am so enamored with a plant that can bloom through the winter here, although I'm sure the unusually mild year and relative lack of snowfall (we currently have a 30 inch deficit for the season) has helped it along.

Arlene, that's beautiful! The"Snowzilla" was quite unusual for our area so maybe I have that to look forward to next winter (what a treat!)