Sowing Hellebores

[Robert_Brenchley]

I just bought a packet of Hellebore seed, and it says that germination is erratic, and takes 50 days or more. That suggests that either it would have been better being sowed immediately on ripening, or that stratifying might help. Has anyone tried it?

[Robert_Brenchley]

[Rosa_Mundi]

I believe they are best sown fresh. I get lots of self-sown seedlings, but when I bought a pack and tried in spring, zero success... :(

[Robert_Brenchley]

That's what I suspected, but never mind, I'll try it this once.

[Gardenantics]

I noticed at the local Lidl store that they are bringing in Hellebore plants on sale at £2.50 in the next offers batch. You will have to take pot luck on the flowers I guess, but it's a good price if the plants are healthy.

Brian

[Ceratonia]

I sowed some this week - instructions on the seed packet were something like 4 weeks at 65-70F, 4 weeks at 32-40F, then put in cold frame in spring. So stratification does seem like it's necessary. I also get plenty of self-sown seedlings, but not usually nice colours.

[Robert_Brenchley]

I think I'll have to take the warm spell for granted (I don't know whether warmth while they're in the packet counts) and plant straight away.

[Dan 2]

Carol Klein is doing a pice about growing Hellebores form seed in the March issue of the Gardeners World magazine. It'll mean you'd have to wait 'till the beginning of Februray though. Happy Growing! Dan :-)

[Garden Manager]

The easiest way to grow hellebores from seed is to do nothing!

By that i mean just let your plants get on with it themselves.

I have 2 plants growing in a raised bed with an area of gravel just next to the bed. One year i let the plants seed and sure enough the following spring up popped masses of little hellebore seedlings in the gravel. I think i ended up with enough to start a hellebore nursery had i wanted to!! 

Of course there is no guarantee of colour with self sown and of course you are stuck with the same set of genes as the parent plant. So no good if you want to diversify or start a hellebore collection.

I guess with sowing seed yourself (ie with saved or bought seed) you have to be prepared to be patient. Even my fresh self sown seeds took a long time took nearly a year to germinate, though i suspect they would still have come up in spring if sown the previous autumn, requiring the cold of winter to stratify them, rather than a long period of time.

It might be worth sowing around now in a pot of gritty compost and leaving outside in a sheltered but not warm position and seeing what comes up in spring.  I know you can try to cheat nature by using the fridge but i have never found this to be as reliable a method as letting nature take its course.

[Robert_Brenchley]

I have a cold frame under a tree so it never really dries out. I haven't used it for seed raising for a while since I got so discouraged while the thefts were going on. I've got lots of hellebores but they're all the normal hybrids; I'm really intereted in species but I got some 'Christmas Rose' seed to see if it grows, before I go looking for anything more precious.