Hellebores – New Varieties to fill the winter gap.

Hellebore (Helleborus) are much loved in UK gardens and now the gap between the Christmas Rose (Helleborus niger) and the Lenten Rose (Helleborus orientalis) has been filled by German plant breeders so you can have incredible winter colour and full hardiness.

It’s our opinion that no garden is complete without Hellebores and these new varieties are a must, especially in northern gardens. The Ice and Roses series look amazing.

Let the breeders describe them yo you in their own words

“The Snow Rose varieties from the Ice N’ Roses^® ( Helleborus x glandorfensis) series owe their fascinating colours and robust nature to the fact that they are crosses between Snow Roses and Lenten Roses. More specifically, Ice N’ Roses^® is a cross between Helleborus x ericsmithii and a Lenten Rose (Helleborus x hybrida). Snow Roses and Lenten Roses were previously not considered to be crossable. The resulting varieties are extremely robust, long-lived and disease resistant. They thrive well even in sunny places and flower for an exceptionally long period of time with new blooms continuously replacing the aged ones. Some varieties of these Snow Roses start to flower as early as November. The beautiful large blooms are carried high above the leaves and look you right in the eye. Colours range from deep red, rose and white to bicoloured varieties. The red varieties retain their colour for a long time after they stop blooming.

Whenever the first-time cross between two species generates a new species, it’s the breeder’s privilege to give it a name. The breeder of Ice N’ Roses^® named the new species Helleborus x glandorfensis to express his close ties with his home town of Glandorf in Lower Saxony.”

Have a look at these three great varieties: