Clever breeding has seen a host of eye-catching hybrids arrive to spice up dull winters, says Graham Rice
Recent hellebores
When hellebores first became fashionable
50 years ago, the general rule was that hybrids between most of the fifteen species known at the time were almost impossible. Only a few more adventurous gardeners and nursery growers tried to cross one species with another and were rightly lauded on the rare occasions they succeeded.
Now, things have changed. Following many years of refining techniques and widening imaginations, in North America and mainland Europe as well as in Britain, in some garden centres and nurseries the majority of plants offered are hybrids.
The most anticipated hellebore cross has been between the Lenten rose, Helleborus x hybridus, and the Christmas rose, H. niger. First seen in 1990, the variety found most often in garden centres, nurseries and gardens is Walberton’s Rosemary (‘Walhero’) – perhaps the finest garden hellebore ever raised.
‘Winterbells’, the hybrid between our native stinking hellebore, H. foetidus, and the Christmas rose, H. niger, is especially unexpected and provides the occasional surprise of flowering in midsummer, too!
Now, it’s come to the point that there are so many hybrids around, some involving three or four different species, that keeping track of their origins is almost impossible. Give the genes an expert stir and almost anything can happen.
My advice? Grow the ones you like best – and forget about their background.
■ Position Best in rich, free-draining soil in partial shade. Will often take full sun if moisture ret
