Hellebore leaves.

No doubt most GC members Hellebores will be finished flowering, mine are in full swing atm. I had someone from the local gardening club up here collecting plants for a sale they run and the person asked if they could see round my garden which I was fine about. We got to a bed which has Hellebores in it and the person threw their arms in the air in shock that I hadn't removed the tatty old leaves ( & large sigh) . While thinking that I have many more things to get upset about than some b leaves I admitted that the overall effect is diminished by the old leaves but felt it best to leave them in situ. Do you remove the old leaves so that you can see the flowers better? If so does it adversely affect the flowering capacity for the following season?
Post the person departing with a car load of my plants I remembered why I am not a member of said gardening club.

 

The removal of the old leaves is more to prevent the ingress of bacteria and/or fungis into the crown of the plant. The removal has no effect on the plant as the leaves are finished with in any case. They grow new feeding leaves as the flowers fade.
This leaf removal is only done on H. x hybridus, not on any of the other types.

 

Thanks Palustris, no mention was made to me about anything to do with fungus/bacteria, it was all to do with the look of the plant. However, if as you kindly tell me removing the old leaves is not detrimental to the plants them I'll remove them. Most if my Hellebores are Hybrids. I used to grow Hellebores Foetidus but decided I didn't like it much so got rid of it and its MANY seedlings!

 

By the way, the recommendation to remove leaves comes from the pen of W. McLewin who is possibly the worlds leading expert on Hellebores.