big old hellebore

My friend is going to give me a large hellebore which he doesn't want, it is looking a bit straggly and old and I was wondering how I would go about transplanting it and how would I go about taking and planting cuttings from it?

Also which would be the best position in the garden for a hellebore?

 

If you could wait till September it might be better. But if you must move it, , dig it up with as big a root ball as possible. Cut off all the old leaves at ground level. Water well befpre and afer planting. Propagation is done by division and again best in September when Hellebores begin to make new roots. If it is in flower why not sow any seeds straight away and then you would have a lot of plants and possibly different colours.
Hellebores are edge of woodland plants, they like moist soil in dappled shade.

 

Great thanks Palustris. Will I have to cut the flowers to ground level too?

[ 01. April 2006, 02:15 PM: Message edited by: sawfish ]

 

No, otherwise you won't get seeds and not the fresh green new leaves either, only the old leathery ones.

 

Like my primulas, my hellebores are quite promiscuous. they self seed themselves around the garden with gay abandonment, but hardly ever come out like parent plant.

the flowers are looking quite lovely at the moment, but the leaves are quite tatty. I usually leave the old leaves on the plant as a kind of weed supressant, but this year for the first time I have given up with them and cut very poor ones off, so now I will have to see if I am made to pay for this later.

 

Will the seeds grow if sown directly into the garden just now?

It would be great if you could post some pictures of your hellebores Waco!!

 

Hi Sawfish,

I posted something similar a few months ago here:

http://www.gardenerscorner.co.uk/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=001360#000000

The advice seemed a little varied - I have left it where it is for now, will look at it in a few months :D

 

Waco, the generally given advice is to cut the old leaves off as the flower buds develop. Certainly we always have and we now have a few hundred of the things all over the place.
Sawfish, sow the seeds as soon as the pods on the plants begin to open. We sow in trays 'cos otherwwise we have far too many and only allow seed from special plants to develop, but scattered around the parent plant is fine. Transplant either as soon as they germinate OR wait until they are reasonable sized plants and then move in September.