hellebores

Heaven is hellebores and hepaticas

Just how many hellebores is too many? I found myself wondering this as I gazed down a glasshouse where every inch of staging was filled with plants. I really liked that pink one with the darker purple markings but then the white would stand out better in low light and what about that stunning double.

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The glasshouse was full of hellebore temptation.

I was in hellebore heaven and struggling to control the urge to buy everything I saw. These early spring flowers have long been a favourite and so a Garden Media Guild trip to see behind-the-scenes at Ashwood Nurseries was a real treat.

hellebores
What a colour combination.

Set up by John Massey, it’s widely acknowledged to be one of the top hellebore breeders and a peek into the glasshouse where they keep the stock plants didn’t disappoint.

Picotee, anemone-centred, doubles, singles and every colour from pure white to the darkest almost black purple, there really is a hellebore to suit every taste – and dozens that I wanted badly.

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This was a beauty.

The Ashwood’s hellebore production is gardening on a grand scale, as our guides Karrina Gilbert and Michael Brookes from the nursery team explained. Seed is collected in fine jewellery bags – they are light enough to be tied onto the plants and the mesh allows air to circulate. Then, every year, around 10,000 seedlings are potted up and grown on.

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Many had beautiful markings.

Not until they flower around three years later will Kevin Belcher, who heads up the propagating section, know exactly what their shape and colour is; the glasshouses are not protected from insects and so unintentional cross pollination is inevitable.

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The doubles were good.

It’s why the hellebores are sold only when they are in flower and are not named beyond the general Helleborus x hybridus ‘Ashwood Garden Hybrids’ and a colour unless they are produced by micro-propagation, a method that’s used for only some plants as John believes seed-grown hellebores are better.

“Micro-propagated plants are the only ones we can sell in leaf because you know what you are going to get,” Karrina told us.

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The whites were rather lovely.

The team are ruthless with the stock plants, discarding around 100 a year.

“We’re constantly going through and selecting and re-selecting the stock,” said Karrina. “It’s very much splitting hairs, the differences are so subtle.”

Over the years, the colours have become clearer and the range extended; this year a double yellow with yellow nectaries in Ashwood’s Evolution range is on sale for the first time.

hellebores
The new yellow.

One of the things the nursery is trying to improve is the leaves and the appearance of the backs of petals. Hellebores are notorious for looking down so often all you see is the back of the flowers.

Yet, although flowers are more upright than they used to be, some hanging down is needed to stop the stamen dropping onto plants and causing rot. Planting them on a slope, or in a raised bed, makes it easier to see into the flowers.

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The Chelsea stock chills out in the freezer.

Some of the best plants have been in a freezer since late September in preparation for a display at RHS Chelsea this year. The plants will be brought out in April and coaxed into flower ready for the show in May. It will be Ashwood’s fourth visit to the show and the first time that hellebores will be displayed as a single exhibit.

And on to the hepaticas

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The hepaticas were in full bloom.

An added bonus to the day was a look around John’s hepatica glasshouse – a place stuffed so full of plants he’s installed a moveable staging unit so that space isn’t wasted on a pathway.

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John spends hours tending the plants.

Here are just a few that caught my eye.

hellebores
Pink and frilly
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A beautiful blue.
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How about stripes?
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I loved the contrasting colours of this.
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Pure beauty.

These tiny jewels of colour entranced us all. I fear another plant addiction is looming.

Part of the GMG trip was a tour of John’s garden and you can read about that here.

For details of Ashwood Nurseries, visit the website.

7 Comments

  1. My partner and I had a private tour of the Ashwood polytunnels about ten years ago. I could have come come with almost every hellebore. As it was, we limited ourselves to a couple of very dark purples and four yellow hellebores (then fairly unusual and priced accordingly, but worth every penny).

    1. I like the yellows as well. I’ve got one – and narrowly avoided buying several more 🙂

  2. What a mindblowing experience that must have been! Hellebores are something I warmed to very slowly a few years ago – my only experience really was a giant Helleborus foetidus which I still dislike – but now I love them most of the winter flowerers. I have a penchant for the darkest flowers, but as you point out, they don’t show off so well in the gloom or shade sadly…

    1. The dark hellebores were very popular a few years ago but I’m not so sure they are as good – unless you’ve got something such as silver birch to put them under.

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