Missed this thread
This one is blooming right now in my zone 7 garden. This is the 2nd year for it.
Here are some pictures of mine with the leaves cut off.
I left a few because I did this before the blooms started to emerge. Thought I might rake up later , never did, but I wanted to leave one or two leave to see where the plant was. I cut the old leaves off so you can see the blooms. Later the new growth will come up and the plant will fill in again. You don't do this on the Corsican type or you will cut the blooms off. Only the type where the blooms emerge from the soil. The Corsican blooms on the stems.
Another thing I do is lay lime chips around the plant. You can see a bit of that in the photos. Looks like I need to do that again. There is a fungus , black spots on the leaves that these plants get. Lime chips and cutting old growth of helps with this disease.
If you have a rockery or wall that you walk near the hellebores look great there. You can look up at them. I have a place like that but those are not blooming.
This is a great book The Gardener's Guide to Growing Hellebores by Graham Rice and Elizabeth Strangman.
http://www.pacifichorticulture...
Interesting read on Helebores
