Please don't hate me but I just destroyed the top of a hellebores plant that was in a pot. Having only two blooms hidden way beneath a massive spread of leaves, I hacked away thinking I had a overgrown weed...then I saw the blooms and almost cried. I desperately want to save the plant if possible, but don't know the first thing about caring for them. Youtube has failed me it right know it just sitting in my yard. The root system is so tight and extensive, it came out of the pot in one clump and is sitting in my yard, waiting for someone to save it. WHAT DO I DO?????
Hacked-up Hellebores
- Thread starter emilyw
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Stop panicking for a start. Plant it in the garden somewhere and give it a good watering in. They like a rich soil in light shade. Can you remember what kind of Hellebore it is? If one of the oriental hybrids then you would normally remove all the leaves at this time of year in any case. If H. niger then they usually recover from leaf removal, but it may take a while to flower again. Ditto H. x sternii types.
We have well over 300 Hellebores and I have just spent hours removing the old leaves as they no longer need them and they just hide the flowers.
It is not bad time to plant them out either. I have just dug up a few hundred self seeded babies and will grow them on to see what colour they are before either planting them out of compost heaping them.
We have well over 300 Hellebores and I have just spent hours removing the old leaves as they no longer need them and they just hide the flowers.
It is not bad time to plant them out either. I have just dug up a few hundred self seeded babies and will grow them on to see what colour they are before either planting them out of compost heaping them.
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I had to look up hellebores. 
So I think pretty much any perennial, given a suitable climate, will tolerate being hacked down to the roots. I don't know where you live, but here everything gets frozen solid and "dead" for a good 5-6 months out of every year. And assuming it's a perennial for my zone, magically comes back every spring.
So i think what owdboggy said; they will most likely be fine.
So I think pretty much any perennial, given a suitable climate, will tolerate being hacked down to the roots. I don't know where you live, but here everything gets frozen solid and "dead" for a good 5-6 months out of every year. And assuming it's a perennial for my zone, magically comes back every spring.
So i think what owdboggy said; they will most likely be fine.
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Like Owdboggy, we have hundreds of Hellebores of different varieties. Cutting back doesn't really bother them. Talk to them nicely and they'll bring you lots of joy, as they have a long flowering season.
Are you sure it is hellebore? If it is, as the others said, NO NEED TO WORRY! Choose a spot under a tree, or shrub, under dappled shade as hellebore likes a dry head. Get 1/3 bark mulch and good quality multipurpose compost and work some bonemeal into it and plant it the same level as the crown. Water it well. Make sure the soil is moist but free draining. - a bit woodlandy. Remove any diseased leaves .. the flowers will still come up, but depending on where you are. Mine in Essex are still flowering or in new seedpods. Hellebores are very tough plants, and can do well unless the soil is too clayy or too hot for the plants. They will give you a life time of pleasure.
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Bootsy: love your avatar .. Talk to them nicely will certainly help! LoL!