H.orientalis

This is a favourite plant of mine for several reasons – the way the large, bowing saucer-like blooms can appear within neglected areas, forgotten until their dusky pink, white and mauve shades mark the end of the dull winter months; these multiple flowering heads then remain for weeks rather than days, and the  variety of species means that flowers can be enjoyed from Christmas until early spring.  Not only this but hellebores are frost-resistant, tolerant of shade and drought and not particularly susceptible to disease or predation.

Helleborus is an evergreen perennnial plant of the buttercup family Ranunculaceae  native to Europe and Asia, where it grows wild in meadows with the greatest natural population being in the Balkan states.  Although now known as a toxic plant,  the roots do not contain the cardiotoxic compounds which account for its’ potentially lethal reputation.  The roots are filled with alkaloid toxins which…