As Storm Ciara rages outside and Coronavirus looks set to end the world it’s rather nice to be able to reflect on the prospect of Spring, even if we don’t live to see it. And hellebores are perhaps the best harbingers of it as their new leaves and flower buds comfortably pip snowdrops to the post. Not only that, they last for months, still flowering even as late as April. But the very best thing about hellebores is the variety of colours and shapes of their flowers (note: beware of hellebore pedants who refer to the petals as sepals and get terribly cross if you don’t). And here’s the very best way of enjoying them, particularly when it’s just a little bit windy outside:
These were picked (plucked, snipped?) a couple of days ago from the garden after I’d got Rosie to lift the heads of each and every variety we’ve got here so that I could photograph them all. Sadly there was a breeze blowing even then and what with her arthritis and my dodgy focussing the exercise wasn’t a great success. However here she is photographing, with rather more success, our small patch of hellebore heaven for her Instagram post.
Things you probably don’t know about hellebores (but are really very interesting, so read on): they prefer alkaline soil, plenty of organic matter and need to be free draining. They appreciate shade from the midday sun. Slugs, snails and mice are rather fond of them but rabbits aren’t. They are members of the buttercup family (hellebores not rabbits). The roots, if eaten, cause vomiting and can be fatal. Some varieties were used to treat worms in children, the idea being to expel the worms by throwing them up. If the worms had moved to the gut the treatment needed to be repeated and that could result in the death of the child. If you sit on the seeds of a hellebore you’ll get a blistered bum. And if you spread the powdered root of a hellebore onto the floor and step on the powder you’ll become invisible. And finally, if an eagle sees you digging up a hellebore he will cause your death (though you can avoid this by drawing a circle round the plant, face east and offer up a prayer). Told you, interesting, eh?