Dorothy's Dawn Hellebore

If your garden is dull in winter and early spring, then hellebores, also called Christmas Rose or Lenten Rose, are for you. These are no longer your grandma’s dingy, half-hidden winter flowers, but spectacular beauties, with heads held proudly high, full of blooms. A great start would be Dorothy’s Dawn™ Hellebore, a modern variety with full clusters of beautiful flowers in unique shades of light purple with pinkish overtones. Flowering begins as early as January, or may start as late as March, depending on your growing zone, and flowering continues for up to 3 months, with the flowers gradually changing color to dusky pinks and then lime greens, but still staying attractive. New foliage emerges after the flowers, and in this variety the glossy, leathery leaves are spectacular, marbled in wonderful silvery patterns on the dark-green background. Great plants for shadier parts of your garden, these are long-lived, hardy perennials that will be long-loved as well. Providing good groundcover foliage through summer, and drought tolerant, you will wonder how you ever got through winter without hellebores. You can also grow this plant in a pot for years, bringing it inside to a cool, bright room, where it will flower early and have perfect blooms, unblemished by bad weather.

• Upright, light purple flowers grow on sturdy stems
• Bold, silver marbling patterns on glossy leaves
• From January to April you have 3 months of blooming
• Tolerates summer drought and grows well in shade
• For winter flowers indoors, grow in pots

Grow Dorothy’s Dawn™ Hellebore in partial shade, such as a spot with morning sun, or beneath deciduous shrubs, where winter sun shines through. The evergreen foliage is an excellent groundcover beneath mature shrubs, and is quite tolerant of summer drought. It will thrive in any well-drained soil, and that includes alkaline soils, limestones, poor ground and heavy clays as well. Use plenty of rich compost when planting, and use it as mulch applied in fall or spring. It is important not to cut down the leaves in fall, but you can remove old, unsightly leaves once the flower stems are showing. New leaves come after the flowers. This plant isn’t eaten by deer or rabbits, and it has no noteworthy pest or disease problems. Very easy to grow, and long-lived.