One of the true harbingers of spring is the hellebore. They start to flower at the end of winter and really signal that spring is here.

Although they have been around for a long time, they have become a lot more popular recently.

A lady called Mrs Ballard first studied them and now several people have taken them up, and are producing more and more colours and types.

Local nurseryman, John Massey, at Ashwood Nursery, Kingswinford, has produced many of the most beautiful strains.

The hellebore is an herbaceous plant that grows to about one foot high with palmate leaves which are pretty in themselves.

About now the flowers come up in the middle of the plant, usually drooping over so that you have to bend down and lift the face to see it.

This is a nuisance, but there is a good reason for it. The face will be protected from the vagaries of the weather, and in spite of frost, rain, or even snow, the flowers remain beautiful.

In the past most hellebores were white, usually helleborus niger, with short stems and pure white flowers.

Then the helleborus hybrida was introduced and crossed, the result being the many different colours that we can grow now.

Pewter

Perhaps the most fascinating colour available is black. These can be double or single, and some are pewter shades which are most unusual.

There are many shades of pink, pale and dark, some with delightful spots and speckles on the petals. Some are double, some single, and some have a pretty “nectary” around the centre and hellebores are easy to grow.

They like a place in the shade with good deep soil, ideally with plenty of leaf mould incorporated.

Do not move them too much, as the roots are fleshy and prone to damage.

The easiest way to grow them is from seed which should be collected as soon as it is ripe.

These come up quite quickly and the little seedlings should be protected from mice.

Then they should be pricked out and grown on until they flower. This will take a couple of years – and they will not be the same as the parent plant, so at this point you have to keep the ones that you like.

Another way to keep a plant that you really like is to split it carefully and plant it out or pot it up.

As the plant does not like to be disturbed you must be very careful or you will loose the whole plant.

The only other way is to propagate by micro tissue, which is what the main growers do, but this is very tricky.

By Pat Edwards