Heleborous Help Needed

Anyone experienced with Helleborous?

I have several helleborous and they have been blooming for the second spring. They have lots of bloom. But some of the leaves are browning (as they did last year) and I am wondering if I am doing something wrong. Also, seeing that it is spring I would like to add some nutrients to their soils once flowering is complete. Any thoughts and suggestion as to why the leave are browing and when and how to fertilize these special plants.

Hoping to get some feeback...



This message was edited May 7, 2008 9:08 PM

I see that you're a subscriber, so if you don't get any answers here you might try posting over on the perennial forum, I know there are some hellebore enthusiasts over there who can help you out on fertilizing, etc. For the problem with the leaves it may also help if you can post a picture of them so people can see what's going on. I don't really know hellebores very well, but with other sorts of plants there are a ton of things that can cause some browning on the leaves and a picture can help narrow things down.

mine turn brown and disappear then return again. Occasionally one doesn't. Or will it? My guess is that the old leaves die then they sleep and then return. They are just strange plants.

Thank you both for the feedback... I have attached a picture this time and will also try the other forum as suggested.

The leaf in the upper right corner of the picture indicates that you might have a fungal problem or possibly stem rot. I'd clean out the area surrounding the crown of the plant to make sure it's getting good air circulation. Then, you might want to post a close-up of one of the affected leaves.

You plants look fine to me also, however, I think the trouble could be that you have the mulch right up against the growing crown of the plants and this causes rot to set in as stated before, there is no air circulation around the crown of the plants, I would scrape away the mulch about 2 inches from the stems/crown and cut off all the brown leaves, this will prevent any further loss of green foliage, mine stay evergreen all year round but I dont have really harsh icey winters here, however the odd leaf turns brown as natural with any plant where the foliage has aged and is not producing any goodness to the plant, then I just cut them off about an inch above the ground, I also dead head the flowers as the large seed heads weaken the plant trying to make lots of seeds, but if you want seeds then just allow one flower to produce seeds for you, some of these plants self seed really easy and you will find the little seedlings close to the parent plant the following year, you can just lift them and replant them, but others are difficult to grow from seeds, so maybe you will get lucky. As for adding some feed/ nutrients to the soil after flowering, I do this when I tidy up the foliage after flowering has finished, I just sprinkle a handful of either chicken pellets bought from the store or add some blood/bone and fish meal the same way, then gently fork or trowel it into the soil at the root area being careful not to disturb the roots, give a water to let this go down into the soil and leave them alone after that other than tidy the foliage up as before. hope this helps you out a bit. good luck. Weenel.

IT LOOKS LIKE YOUR MULCH AROUND YOUR PLANTS, OF BARK CHIP IS A LITTLE THICK, TRY TO REMOVE SOME OF IT AROUND THE PLANTS STEMS AS WHEN THIS ROOTS DOWN, IT WILL CAUSE YOU HELLEBOUR STEMS TO ROT OFF FROM THE BASE .
ALSO ANOTHER REASON WHY THE LEAVES COULD BE DISTORTED OF HAVE BLACK OR BROWN SPOTS ON THEM COULD BE BECAUSE OF HELLEBOUR LEAF SPOT.
THIS IS A COMMON VIRUS THAT ATTACKS THE LEAVES . TO STOP THIS : CUT OFF ALL THE LEAVES IN WINTER AT THE BASES OF THE PLANT, ONLY LEAVING THE FLOWERING STEMS . BURN THIS MATERIAL AS COMPOSTING IT WILL CAUSE THE VIRUS TO BE REINTRODUCED INTO YOUR GARDEN WHEN PLANTING ANY NEW PLANTS .
ONCE YOU HAVE CUT OFF ALL THE LEAVES THIS WILL STOP THE VIRUS SPREADING TO NEW LEAVES THAT APPEAR AFTER FLOWERING AND IN SUMMER WHEN THE PLANT IS IN ACTIVE GROWTH .

ONCE YOUR HELLEBOURS ARE IN FULL FLOWER GIVE THEM A HIGH NITROGEN FEED TO ENSURE THE NEW LEAVES ARE AS GREEN, GLOSSY AND HEALTHY AS POSSIBLE

ALSO REMOVING THESE LEAVES MEANS THE FLOWERS LOOK LIKE THEY ARE FLOWERING ON NAKED STEMS AND ARE EASIER TO IDENTIFY AND SEE. IF YOU NEED ANY MORE ADVICE ON HELLEBOURS COME TO ME AS I ATTEND A COLLEGE THAT OWNS ONE OF THE LARGEST NATIONAL COLLECTIONS OF HELLEBOURS IN ENGLAND. THANK YOU

Kent, sweetie, although the information you provide is good, your use of all capital letters makes it really difficult to read and, I think, downright annoying. Sorry.

cant please everyone can we

That sounds pretty cool flowermankent. Do you have any photos or a web link where we can see some photos of the collection at the college you attend?