Hellebore Help!

Last fall I bought a wonderful Helleborus "Winter Jewels™ Apricot Blush" and planted it in a barrel on the north-west side of my house (first image). During the winter the barrels (six in all) were covered in snow. Being west of this year's polar vortex (Salt Lake City, zone 6b), we never had the scary cold that the rest of the country had. Furthermore, the neighbor's fence to the west is fairly close to my house, so the barrels are sheltered from sun, wind, and freeze-thaw cycles. (Some pansies in the barrels survived the winter with their blooms intact.)

About a month ago, we had our first significant thaw and the snow melted off the whole ground. Then it warmed up and did not rain or snow. During this time, I cut away two dead leaves from the Hellebore (leaving a third) and it sent up a hopeful little shoot. About a week later, I realized that the barrels were drying out, so I began to manually water the Hellebore and other peakèd looking plants.

Three days after nice soaking rains, the Hellebore still looks unhappy (second image). My snow crocuses and miniature irises are blooming on the south side of the house, and most other bulbs already have their noses up.

Shouldn't the Hellebore be more lively at this point? It's my first Hellebore so I don't know what to expect. What do they usually bloom with: snow crocuses, later crocuses, daffs, or tulips?

Hellebores can vary in bloom time, but usually very early in spring.
In mild winters, mine are blooming in February, generally my earliest blooming plant.
My hellebores usually bloom before my earliest bulbs.
This year, because of the deep freeze, no sign of life yet.
But I'm sure they'll spring to life as soon as the soil warms slightly.
I think your shoot looks OK - I'd just give it a little more time.
They're usually not fussy at all.
Good luck with yours - I hope you'll post pictures when it finally blooms!

Hellebores are definitely not fast growers, and will take some time to establish large clumps. I started many of mine five years ago from small seedlings, and they are now 12-18 inch clumps. I bought a half dozen gallon size discounted leftovers last fall and they are fabulous. So look for established plants unless you have a lot of patience and time. Established clumps don't like to be transplanted, it sets them back a year or so.

While many of my normal freeze proof cold hardy plants got nipped badly by a recent extreme cold spell, the hellebores were relatively unscathed. Several had tender new shoots that were clobbered, and some leaves got ice burn. They've already come back, thrown out new shoots and bloomed/still blooming. As Weerobin said, they are always the first blooms for me in Feb and March. The longevity of the blooms is what I also like about them. My only wish is that I had some of the colored flowers, but they are pricey. Mine are the white to green colored flowers. The year round foliage in my shade gardens is the prize for me.

When the individual foliage stalks get ragged, cut them back in late fall. Typically they only throw out new growth in late winter/ early spring.

I have a gazillion Hellebores. They seem to reseed very easily. My Hellebores have actually bloomed with snow on the ground. I just looked in the shady area today and thought "They are taking over". No they are actually very lovely.

Turns out the Hellebore died. The new shoot continued to wither, and when I poked around it fell off and looked rotted from the inside. It might be the case that I planted everything too late in the season (early September) and the plants didn't have time to establish before the cold affected them.

I replaced it with an identical species only planted closer to the center of the barrel and it's much more vigorous. This time, it will have the whole growing season to invest in good roots.

Agree, they can reseed easily. Noticed some new seedlings around my clumps couple days ago.

I don't think they like "wet feet" so err on the side of under watering. They can tolerate some drought and heat. We've had some brutal dry summers, and they come through fine. Avoid the soil drying out.

Aw, bummer that it died. I have had mine for several years. I had to move them several time cause they were doing nothing. But now I have them in a spot they like lots. And the colors are so beautiful. They are so hardy. They do like some sun on them and stay green all winter. Hope you try them again. They really are so rewarding.

I've never grown one in a container but I can say that wet doesn't bother them. I have several growing in the wettest bed in my yard, it heaves and thaws constantly all winter and they are doing just fine. They seem to do just fine in just about every possible place in gardens, the only place I haven't tried is our bog lol! Some varieties are slower to get going than others the winter jewels that I have (Obsidian and something else) took years to establish and not look sad. I cut back all the previous years foliage as soon as I can in Feb. they seem to thrive when they aren't fussed over.

I do not plant in containers either just annuals.

My Hellebore sometimes have wet feet, but not constantly. Here are pictures of some of my Hellebore. These all seeded from 4 plants.

What can I say? The last couple of years we have had snow that turned to ice, then snow on top of that and that turned to ice etc. for several layers. My Helebores normally come up and bloom thru the snow in January depending on the weather. But, since this crazy weather is doing this strange thing, they are not even blooming, let alone getting leaves, until almost April.

No, I have never grown in containers either. But these things reseed everywhere. I have one that has been blooming in the middle of a peony for the last few years before the peony blooms come up. But, it gets more sun than the other one. So, you see, all things can change what they do.

Oh, BTW, that one blooming in the middle of the peony is about 25 feet away from the mother plant. ??? shrug

I was always told to put Hellebores out of the wind as much as possible. Maybe your barrel being elevated made it to windy on the young plants? Here is a new one that I got this year, it is a Hellebore ballardiae - never had heard of it before but our MG group got a huge donation of these plants after our Home Show from a landscape company's display. They are doing so much with Hellebores these days. The photos don't show it well but the frosting has pink touches.

That's a beautifully leafed plant isn't it. Really doesn't matter about the blooms does it. However, I was wondering what color they are.

Ottahand I love those leaves also. Very pretty in there selves. I even like it when the flowers are done and they kinda dry and stay a nice color. Yes they do shed seeds all over but I just pull them out as they grow alittle.

The blooms are rose and then they darken to a dusty maroon color. The photo attached shows the flowers on 4/26. They had darkened quite a bit already since they were "show ready" and forced for the home show that ended mid-March. The flowers are nice, they face slightly outward and as they age go downward facing. They are a nice add on to the gorgeous foliage that has pink tinges.

They match the stems etc. Very pretty.

Yes, lovely