Hellebores: Stunning Winter-Blooming Evergreen Perennials

Hellebores are beautiful, versatile perennials that bloom when the rest of the garden is asleep, bringing year-round interest to the landscape. Hellebores, often called Winter Roses or Lenten Roses, begin blooming in late Winter or early Spring and are perfect for brightening shady areas when most of the garden is still dormant. With evergreen foliage and reliable cold hardiness, they’re a prime low-maintenance choice for adding texture and color to your outdoor spaces.

Hellebores have a multitude of desirable attributes to recommend them. They are shade-tolerant, an important food source for early-season pollinators, relatively drought-tolerant once established, rabbit and deer resistant, and have very few pests or disease issues.

Thanks to newly bred introductions, Hellebores bloom in a range of colors, from white to pastels, pinks, maroons, and even black! Each flower lasts for several weeks and often goes through subtle color changes, typically starting out lighter and ultimately fading to mauve and green as the flower matures. Most Hellebore flowers have slight nodding habits, though newer introductions have been bred for showier, more upright blooms!

Our Favorite Hellebore Varieties

Early Season Hellebores

• Ice N’ Roses Red – Masses of reddish pink flowers and very early blooming
• Ice N’ Roses White – Many clear white flowers bloom on strong stems
• FrostKiss Moondance – White flowers sit upright atop attractive marbled foliage
• FrostKiss Penny’s Pink – Pink, upright flowers hold their color well and sit above marbled foliage
• Shooting Star – Large, upright flowers have blush pink buds that open to white on a strong blooming plant
• Snow Fever – Speckled, interesting variegated white and blue foliage with pink new growth stands out in the shade
• Monte Cristo – Unique silvery foliage with toothed margin pairs nicely with cream and green upward facing flowers

Late Season Hellebores

• Winter Jewels Double Slate – Double flowers with a blueish black hue
• Winter Jewels Fire & Ice – Clear white double flowers edged in intense pink
• Winter Jewels Sun Flare – Yellow double flowers ombred to pink edges
• Honeymoon Sandy Shores – Amber flowers edged in maroon with black speckled centers
• Honeymoon New York Night – Black single flowers contrast beautifully with yellow, pollen-filled stamens
• Honeymoon French Kiss – Pretty light pink flowers are streaked and edged in deeper pink

See the chart below for examples of different bloom times for common Hellebore cultivars.

How to Use Hellebores in the Garden

Hellebores make a stellar addition to any landscape, but are especially at home in Pacific Northwest Gardens, naturalistic or woodland style gardens. Aside from the attractive blooms that emerge when most plants are dormant, the strong, leathery foliage provides year-round interest due to its mostly evergreen nature.

Use Hellebores to cover the ground under trees, in mixed borders, or along paths for a charming woodland aesthetic. Pair them with Spring bulbs and shade garden companions like Ferns, Hostas, Brunnera, Bleeding Hearts, and Epimediums to create a lush and layered garden design.

Hellebores are also an excellent choice for Winter container combinations, both for their foliage and their sparkling flowers. We love pairing them with the ruffled texture of Heuchera and accenting them with the cheery blooms of Primroses and Violas. Hellebores can either be left in pots all year for a low-maintenance container garden or transplanted out into the landscape when porch pots are refreshed in late Spring.

How to Grow & Care for Hellebores

Planting: Plant or transplant Hellebores in Spring, Winter, or Fall. Some older varieties may reseed near the parent plant, and seedlings can either be left to mature or transplanted.

Water & Soil: Hellebores are ideal understory plants that thrive in woodland conditions. In the landscape, they prefer deep, fertile, humus-rich soil but are tolerant of a wide range of soil conditions. Ensure plants have good drainage—soggy soils may cause fungal issues. Once established, most Hellebores require very little supplemental water in the Summer.

Sunlight: Dappled shade like areas under deciduous trees or east-facing aspects with morning sun are ideal for optimal Hellebore flower and foliage performance. Plants may flower poorly or produce smaller blooms if grown in deep shade or potentially show stress and sunburn in the hot sun. Cold-hardiness depends on species—some are hardy down to -20°F!

Fertilizing: Apply all-purpose, organic fertilizer annually in late Winter to early Spring. Mulch around the plant with compost in early Winter but keep away from the crown to prevent rot.

Pruning: To maintain a tidy appearance during Winter and enhance the floral display as flower buds begin to appear, you can remove the previous year’s foliage—either cut off all the old leaves or just those in the worst condition. Be sure to remove diseased Hellebore leaves to help reduce fungal disorders in the coming season.

Pests & Diseases: Hellebores have few problems with disease, but they can be susceptible to black fungal rot. Keep the crown free of mulch and remove any leaves with black patterning, indicative of fungal presence. Slugs and snails are also known to attack young growth and new flower buds—bait with Sluggo in the Fall and Winter before new growth begins. Keep an eye out for aphids in the Spring as new growth emerges and treat with neem oil or insecticidal soap, or rinse off bugs with a strong blast of water.

Hellebores are a gorgeous way to add low-maintenance, year-round interest to your garden. Visit our Garden Centers today to see which Hellebore strikes your fancy to brighten up your garden during a time when very few flowers are blooming!