Flower hellebore

If you wish to creatively decorate the landscape of your garden, you can pay attention to cold-resistant plants, which were planted for decorative purposes relatively recently. Favorite gardeners often becomes hellebore. Planting and caring for this flower will not give you much trouble, and as soon as the snow melts, the plant will delight you with beautiful flowering.

The "pedigree" of the Christmas rose

The hellebore (lat. Helleborus) is a representative of the buttercup family. Its stems, covered with evergreen, large, hard leaves, reach 1 m. This flower is often called a winter house, a bear's foot, or a Christmas rose, due to the shape of its blossoming buds and flowering time. The homeland of the plant with such harmonious names is Central, Southern and Eastern Europe, as well as the western part of Asia.

Types of hellebore: a choice for every taste

The most popular type of winter flower is black hellebore, which received such a name because of the very dark rhizome. It usually blooms all winter, but given the characteristics of our climate, we should expect flowering a little later - in early spring. A short stem (up to 40 cm) can crown with white, yellow, beige flowers with a diameter of 3-6 cm.

Sometimes the eastern hellebore is preferred to this species: its buds bloom from spring to late summer. The color palette of this variety is much richer. In addition to the listed shades, you can see the soft pink, purple, combined color of the petals, which form a flower with a diameter of 6-10 cm.

Mountainous areas are famous for their special plant species. This grass is the Caucasian hellebore - that is what the locals call it. Indeed, small brown flowers, appearing in February-March, are just as unattractive that a Caucasian helintree looks like ordinary grass. But large foliage retains a pronounced green color throughout the winter. A native of the Caucasian mountains rarely appears in the suburban areas because of its poisonous properties.

For lovers of the exotic, a reddish hellebore will be a real surprise. Immediately after the descent of snow on a low stalk, 2-3 flowers bloom 5-7 cm in size, of an amazing violet-purple color.

In addition, modern scientists have brought a lot of hybrid varieties, so that now you can plant a Christmas rose of almost any color.

Turn a flower bed into a winter garden!

Even in the most snowy season, your flower beds will be decorated with bright greens, if you still decide to grow hellebore. Planting and caring for a beautiful winter rose will not take you too long. There are 2 ways to plant this flower:

• bush division;
• sowing seeds.

It is better to remove the roots from the ground in early spring, before the beginning of the period of active growth, and immediately place in the prepared holes. You should not expect flowering in the year of transplanting, as the hellebore grows rather slowly.

Seeds are best sown at the beginning of the summer, immediately after harvest, to avoid loss of germination. If you purchased them at a flower shop, remember a few simple rules.

• Plant seeds in pots with peat-sand soil.
• Store vases at room temperature, and with the onset of cold weather put in a cooler place.
• In the spring, after the appearance of the leaves, dive them into separate pots.
• Plant the seedlings in open ground in autumn.
• The hellebore will grow more intensively in fertile, slightly alkaline soil.
• Expect flowering not earlier than 3 years.

Zimnik is a moisture-loving flower, so during the warm period it should be watered daily. To prevent the roots from rotting, it is necessary to lay a drainage layer in the well. In addition, to save moisture, you can resort to tricks - after flowering, mulch the plant with sawdust or compost.

Best of all hellebore will feel in the shaded areas of the garden:

• under shrubs or trees;
• in extensive flower arrangements;
• near the rocky fence.

Perhaps there are no such places in your garden, but in this case you should not refuse to grow the “winter miracle”. Just try to more closely monitor the soil moisture. Also do not forget, in May-June, the flower needs mineral fertilizers.

To enjoy the beauty of hellebore all year round, you need to protect it from pests:

• mice;
• slugs;
• snails;
• aphids;
• hop silkworm.

Having noticed that insects and rodents damage your favorite flower, use insecticides:

• organochlorine or organophosphate preparations;
• mineral oils;
• sulfur preparations;
• carbamic acid derivatives;
• cyanide compounds

and other poisons of this species, which are used for processing plants. The appearance of dark spots on the leaves of the winterer in wet weather indicates a fungal infection. To stop the pathological process, remove the affected leaves and wipe the plant with a solution of fungicide. Keep an eye on the condition of your green ward, even when it has faded.

Without hesitation, plant hellebore in beds. A flower that is not afraid of the cold will revive your garden on the dull days of late autumn and winter, and a little later (before the appearance of snowdrops, crocuses and violets) will meet spring with delicate flowers of various colors. This plant will pleasantly surprise your guests and is perfect for making a birthday bouquet. With love, take care of the flowers - and they will answer you with pomp and beauty!