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IN THIS GUIDE

HELLEBORE GUIDES

small purple hellebore flower shown against a backdrop of wilting brown leaves

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Hellebores are a group of blossom perennial plants that can bloom from winter through to spring .

There are several benefits to cutting back hellebores , including maintaining optimal plant health and slay the leaf so that their jewel - corresponding flowers can be seen and enjoyed .

pink flowering hellebores with red stems growing from heavy soil

cut back hellebore is a fairly simple process as described below :

This unconscious process is explain in more astuteness underneath .

When To Prune Hellebore

hellebore should be skip back either in the fall or in mid - wintertime , depend on the variety .

The easy - to - care - for and wide - grownHelleborusxhybridus , with its nodding blossom that tend to flower in February and March , requires cut back in recent winter before the new growth appears .

Other hellebore varieties require some pruning in previous autumn and after flowering in spring .

gloved gardener using a pair of secateurs to cut the dead foliage from a potted hellebore plant

1) Remove The Foliage

The leaf ofHelleborusxhybridusis trucking rig - evergreen and can begin to see tired and tatty towards the death of the year .

It is these one-time and often embrown leaves that can be remove by trim back to the radical of the stem with a sportsmanlike and abrupt span of secateurs .

“ In late winter , I absent all of last twelvemonth ’s foliage on myH. xhybridus , ” shares Colin Skelly , a Horticultural Consultant .

hellebore flowers with purple petals wilting in the snow outside

“ At the same metre , I mulch around them with compost .

“ This creates the perfect backdrop for the emerge heyday to bear out as they emerge as well as improving the soil . ”

Other hellebore varieties expect any diseased or damaged foliage to be veer out earlier in the autumn .

dead foliage and brown leaves growing from a hellebore plant with white flowers

Hellebores can be prone to a fungous disease called foliage spot , characterised by blue patch and blotches on both the leafage and the flower .

veer back and removing any septic or one-time foliation can help forbid and restraint leaf spot disease .

2) Deadhead Spent Flowers

Helleborusxhybridushave a trend to ego - seed and can even take over an region .

This can be downplay by either deadheading the spend flowers back to the flowering stems ’ base with secateurs before the ejaculate pods are take form or by removing the seedlings once germinated .

Other hellebore varieties , such asHelleborusfoetidusor the Stinking Hellebore as it is fittingly named , which blossom in outflow can also ego - germ freely .

These bring about boneheaded and taller blossom stems which can either be dilute back right after flowering to discourage their reproduction or left to develop pod and self - seminal fluid , before cutting back to their base .

3) Dispose Of Old Foliage

Along with the fungous leaf spot disease , hellebores can also yield to a viral disease fuck as Hellebore black death .

Aptly named due to the black linear marking on the foliage that come out , the only control is to remove and destroy the plant when the disease is identified .

As a result , and to avoid contamination , it is recommend not to tally any hellebore material to nursing home composting system , but for it to be destroyed instead .