First, we are talking about two distinct types of hellebores. Without getting too technical, we can just say that they grow differently, flower differently and to a lesser degree, are cared for differently.

The first two pictured - Pink Frost and Ivory Prince - are complex hybrids in the group of caulescent or stemmed hellebores. These tend to be fully evergreen so foliage is left intact until after flowering (flowers from top of leafed stem) as that stem will not flower again, although the foliage can remain attractive indefinitely. Caulescent hellebores also tend to grow taller than the stemless forms, don't live as long, resent division, have heavy, often patterned foliage that remains quite durable, have a limited color range and in the case of the hybrids, are almost always sterile.

The rest of your photos are examples of Helleborus x hybridus or the so called "oriental hybrids". These are stemless or acaulescent forms with leaves and flowers emerging separately from the root crown. These are the types of hellebores that typically have their foliage removed in late winter before flowering as it looks pretty tatty by that time as well as making it easier for the flowers to present without the distraction of old, tired foliage obscuring them. Once the flowers emerge, new foliage growth follows rapidly thereafter to replace whatever might have been removed previously.

Acaulescent hellebores tend to be squatter, longer lived, more readily divisible and generally self-seed freely. And of course the xhybridus have the widest range of color and forms available.

Gardengal

late saying ”thank you” for all the effort you put into your answer.

ive read it several times and did more reading elsewhere. my question has to do with a plant’ s appearance and common terms vs botanical terms when describing it.

i accept the necessity of using proper latin names for plants as i do proper botanical

terms. however im pretty ignorant about botanical terms ( my excuse for these ignorant questions that follow)

i find the your comparison of the” stems of complex hybrids in the group of caulescent or stemmed hellebores” and ”Helleborus x hybridus or the so called "oriental hybrids"”

confusing.

i need to stop here other duties call

ive never managed to save an unfinshed post so ill send as is and finish later as an edit

thanks for forebearance

I’m following this post as I am also unknowledgeable about hellebores. I only learned last summer that they are evergreen. I have Ivory Prince and Royal Heritage but have ordered two hybrid hellebores for planting this spring. Even though they are listed as shade plants, mine never really bloomed well until this year and they have been in quite a bit of sun due to the loss of a tree. I like them and would love to add more to my garden.

debra

Some plants are easy to talk about and describe.......others are not. Hellebores fit into that second group :-) So none of your questions are ignorant, Marie. I have just not explained myself well.

Let's move away from botanical terms and just talk about stemmed hellebores and stemless ones. And I am going to omit referring to any species plants for this purpose as species hellebores tend to be unknown to most US gardeners as they are often less hardy and rarely as showy as the hybrids and are typically found in the gardens of only mild climate hellebore collectors.

Stemmed hellebores are often complex interspecies and intersectional hybrids. They produce a leafy stem that will bear flowers at the terminal end of the stem. So leaves and flowers appear on the same stalk (stem). They also tend to have quite durable and often heavily patterned or marbled foliage that will remain looking good indefinitely so they do not get pruned back before the flower season and most gardeners will not remove these leafed stems until the foliage starts to get rather ugly looking (as all evergreen foliage eventually does). I have had some last a good 2-3 years before it needed to be removed. As stemmed hellebores will not rebloom a second time from the same stem, some gardeners don't wait and remove those flowered stems whenever the flowers fade. FWIW, a stemmed hellebore will push out new grow each season so there should be no lack of flowers even if the old stems are left in place. And these complex hybrids are also very often sterile and frequently patented so no self seeding and no division - clumps either need to gradually expand on their own or you purchase additional plants :-)

Until recently, stemless hellebores were the ones grown most often by most gardeners and are almost exclusively reserved for the xhybridus varieties or the so-called oriental hybrids. So-called because H. orientalis is the primary parent and for donkeys' years these were simply called oriental hybrids. Orientalis as a species is virtually unknown in this day and almost all xhybridus forms have ventured many generations beyond that simple parentage. That's where the complexity of colors and markings come from - a little dash of this species and a dash of another :-))

These are considered stemless because the leaves and flowers appear from the root crown on separate stalks - flowers first in late winter or early spring, followed shortly thereafter by a stalk that will develop into new leaves. These are the hellebores that most cut back the old foliage on in winter, as the foliage typically looks pretty done in by that time of year and removing all the old foliage lets the usually downward facing flowers show their stuff without being covered with leafy greenness. Few if any stemless hellebore/xhybridus are patented and all are very fertile so self seeding of an established happy clump is a given. They can also be easily divided to increase your stock and relocate to other spaces.

As I mentioned, almost all hellebores sold are hybrids with the exception of H. niger or the Christmas rose. You will find a few collectors growing argutifolius or foetidus but with only pale green flowers, they are not favorites, with most folks sticking to the hybrids.

Debra, your Ivory Prince is an example of a stemmed hellebore, a sterile complex hybrid. Royal Heritage is a seed strain of xhybridus, so a stemless and self seeding hybrid.

I hope this makes things a little clearer but feel free to come back with any questions and I will do my best to answer them :-)

Though I don't think GG said this in frank words, the newer complex hybrid caulescent plants, tend to be a bit more on the finicky side (for me at least) than the common garden hybrids in their care needs. But at least I can grow them, where h niger (one of the parents, aka the Christmas Rose) remains intolerant of my climate.

Also a note, that just almost no plant (and certainly not hellebores) enjoy mostly shade. They will tolerate it, but blooming is far far better in a situation with morning and maybe even late evening sun and overhead (noon) shade. Remember, sunlight drives photosynthesis.

FWIW 'PInk Frost' has been a vigorous plant for me, the other fancy new hybrids...not so much. YMMV.

Marie, I'm wondering what your Hellebores look like now? More photos? I imagine the foliage has filled in more. Mine looked like your photos, with more or less the flower stems but then more leaves sprouted from the base. Mine have not completely unfurled and I have one that is a new cultivar that is really taking it's sweet time even opening the flower buds. It's surprising to me that here it is almost May and still my Hellebores are not completely display ready. You hear about people enjoying their Hellebores as early as February and I didn't think that was due to another zone.

Wow, prairiemoon, I am in 6a SE WI and my 2 are doing well this year…..

debra

And GG, thank you so much for this lesson!

debra

Debra, VERY pretty! I'm going to have to get a few more photos. I have another thread on Hellebores somewhere, I just need to get some current photos.