How I Grow Hellebores from Seed - Spring is the Perfect Time to Find Seedlings
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- čas přidán 10. 04. 2023
- Hellebores are one of my favorite plants for my shade border. They look exotic, but don't be fooled. These plants are tough and thrive in a cold weather climate (Zones 4a-8b). They grow in partial shade to shade conditions and remain evergreen.
Most of the hellebores I grow don't create seed, but lucky for me, my hellebore 'Gold Finch' does.
In this video, I'm sharing how I plant up baby hellebore plants. Hellebores don't come true from seed because they are notorious cross pollinators. I don't mind. I'm excited to watch these plants grow.
Thanks for watching.
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I knew I was moving my purple hellebore so I watched it closely, knowing that seeds from it is best to be sown fresh, so I took them and put in pots with garden soil right away, put the pot in shade and simply forgot it all winter.
And it worked! I have seedlings in this pot right now, and going to transplant them when they get a little bigger.
I believe that is the biggest problem when you buy hellebore seeds, the aren’t fresh and at least I have had poor or none germination. It’s the same with Japanese maples, I bought seeds last December and I have had only one seed germinated. This fall I’m going to visit the lady I bought seed from and getting seeds that are fresh and recently dropped and ready.
Good for you for catching those hellebore seeds. You are right that they need to be planted when they are fresh. It's so fun to grow plants from seed.
Ever since I’ve seen Hellebores in another CZcams channel, I’ve always wanted some. Last year I got a couple plants on clearance and they are getting ready to bloom now. I hope that the variety I have produces seeds because I would love to be able to do the same thing you did. Thanks for another great video Sue.
I'd love to see photos when they bloom. I hope they set seed too because its fun to watch the baby plants grow.
That is exactly what I do with my old fashion Hellebores. I also find them to be a bit hardier than the fancy hybrids. I love watching the changing of the flower colors every year. I had basic white and purple to start and nowI have about twenty plants in a long swath and they are a mixture of shades. I always cut off the last years foliage in January so the flowers are the star of the show. I try to cut off most of the flowers before they drop their seeds but I always miss some. That means I have plenty of gifts for my friends. It is absolutely my favorite plant. Never gives me a lick of trouble. 😍
That is awesome. I am pretty excited to watch these seedlings grow. What a great idea to share your plants with friends.
Hi Sue, Mother Nature is so much better at gardening than I am.
I love your little Seedlings ❤
Take care and enjoy your Springtime
❤Peggy❤
Hi Peggy,
You are right about Mother Nature. She is a much better gardener than me too. Thanks for your note.
Love hellebores such a pleasure to see this video
Thank you. They are such a cool plant.
Hi, I enjoyed your video. I have an acre of woods and have become a real fan of hellebores. I started off with a few and found the volunteer seedlings, just as you did. My first purchased plants were a purple variety and a white “Christmas Rose” and then added a few hybrids. Before I knew it, There were babies all around the plants. What I did was simply transplanted the larger babies to other parts of the woods and made sure they had water occasionally throughout their first summer after transplanting. They have adapted very well and are maturing nicely. I have hundreds of plants now. I also collect some of the seed in late spring and immediately spread the seed to other parts of the woods. Babies are also appearing in these areas. It seems like the single flower varieties are generally fertile and the fancy doubles are often sterile. I think I will try doing divisions on the sterile varieties once I have some substantial clumps. It is really fun to see the subtle color variations nature creates!
Wow! It sounds like you have a gorgeous hellebore garden.
I transplanted seedlings in to pots last summer. I kept them in the back porch and I think I took good care of them. They stay looking pretty but did not grow very much. By October they still very tiny seedlings. I have a raced bed garden so, I took each tiny plant and put them in the raced beds. The plants are about two inches tall and the leaves are bigger. For now I called that success. Will see what happens next. I will let them grow for now where they are and take care of them,hopping that they will get bigger. 😊
They are very slow growers so it sounds like you did a great job. I can't wait to hear how they do this season.
Great video Sue - Love to watch gardening across 'the pond'. Hellebores are our favourite winter/early spring plants along with snowdrops.
I transplanted them directly in to grounding the desired location, in zone 5,,the plants take longer time to bloom(5 years), you may try to divide old plants, only need 2 year to bloom,I successfully decided over 30 plants that originally came from two plants.
typo: in to ground in the desired location, divide not decided, sorry!
Great advice. I did have luck dividing the Gold Finch hellebore too. You are right about that taking less time to bloom. Excellent point.
Love Helleborus, great informative video❤🪴
Thank you. I'm glad you liked it.
I really enjoyed this, thank you ❤
Thanks for checking it out Paige.
So fascinating Sue! Both your growing them from seed and Hellebore's in general. I have struggled with them here in Colorado. Can't seem to get them to return. Sure our dry climate has something to do with it. For now I will live vicariously through you!
Hi Cheri,
Thanks for checking out the video. Hellebores are my new favorite plant. What a bummer they don't work well in Colorado. I bet it is the climate.
Beautiful!!!
Thank you.
Hi Sue, I stumbled onto your channel a few days ago and so glad I did! Enjoyed why and how you garden and your thought process. (Especially the part about your opinionated neighbors). Sadly grass people have no idea what they are missing! Hellebores are my favorite as well. I have been fortunate enough to have friends and family who gave me a couple to get started and they have spread. I never knew I could seed them! I am so excited and cannot wait to seek out seedlings this evening. Fun to see a fellow gardener appreciate Mother Nature and all it has to offer.
Hi Susan and I'm so glad you found my channel. It sounds like we have tons in common. Thanks for being here.
I "discovered" hellebores last year when I saw some at the local supermarket, they were discounted and on their last legs ;-) I decided to buy them, actually I often buy plants because I feel sorry for them, that's the truth of the matter. My hellebores survived their first winter and they are now in bloom, I suppose I bought the most common cream variety. I don't mind, I like them and I hope they are going to self-seed, just like yours :-) Perhaps I will buy some fancy ones at a sale this year!
I am exactly like you rescuing plants I feel sorry for at the garden center. It sounds like you found a great hellebore. I prefer the cream and white colored blooms. They look great in the shade garden.
@@GardenMoxie I knew we were gardening soul-mates :-)
@@englishwithanerudite Indeed!
They are looking amazing Sue 🍃🌸🍃
I'm always amazed by these tough blooms. We will get a hard freeze and you look at the flowers and you think..oh no. But as soon as the morning warms up, no problem. Incredible plants!
@@GardenMoxie They are so expensive here in the UK 🙄
Thank you for your great video. I could hear your love of plants through your soothing voice.
Today, December 30th, I made an exciting discovery: some of my hellebore seeds received last June from Barnhaven have germinated! I will prick them out and transplant into small pots tomorrow. Then hopefully onto the ground in the spring!
Yay! There is nothing more exciting than seeing those hellebore seeds germinate. Way to go!
Great video!
I just finished stratifying some Hellebore seeds i got online. Hopefully they will grow.
How exciting. A friend gave me some seeds 3 years ago. They grew and will hopefully bloom next season. They are fun seeds to grow.
love this idea Question I live in Michigan as well Do you just leave the seedings outside all winter as well or do they need some special covering
Hi Jackie. The seedlings started poking their head up in the garden in late March so those seedlings are pretty tough. I just moved them to pots and I have them outside, but up by the brick house. They are going well so far. I will plant them back into the garden in Autumn and just let them be.
I was cleaning out my front flower bed a few weeks ago and I noticed all of these little seedlings emerging- I was about to pull them out thinking they were weeds. Something told me not to, so I left them alone to get bigger to see what they were. To my surprise I have about 40 a 50 seedlings started and they’re hellebores! This video has come at a perfect time. I will lift them and repot them and eventually plant them elsewhere in my garden. Thank you for sharing your garden and tips 😉
How awesome!
That was such an interesting video 👍 I saw some very beautiful hellebores in the nursery but they are so expensive. So it's really nice to see that you can grow them from seed.
Thanks for watching. I am glad you liked the video.
I planted 6 different hellebores which I bought when they were on sale ( quite expensive if I buy it at a regular price)Looking forward for their first bloom this year.Maybe in a few years able to see little seedlings too.
They are one of my favorite garden plants because they are the first sign of Spring in my garden. I love the blooms too.
The 1st two hellabores I bought didn't survive. I was so upset because I paid a fortune (no where near 50 but a fortune for me). I decided to give it another try year before last and I am so pleased to see thriving. I thought you just have to hope they seed and spread so I was so glad to see your vlog on helping them along. TYSM!
I'm glad to hear your latest hellebores are doing well. They are great plants.
Love Helleborus. I cross mine with all of them. I wan them to cross and create a cool variety.
Awesome!
I've never grown hellebores before...However, I have the perfect place for them, so I'm going to give it a try
I just started growing them a few years back and I love them. They are very tough plants. I hope you like them as much as I do.
That was exciting to see, I have never seen Hellebore seeds. I have only recently learned of Hellebores since watching U TUBE videos. At $50 a plant there’s a reason I don’t have any 😢
Thank you. I'm hoping my local Trader Joe's has some plants. I found them there a few years ago for a very affordable price. I can guarantee I will not be purchasing $50 plants...ha ha.
Oh my gosh… $50 a plant. The nursery I have bought from are selling them for 24.99 which is still healthy and up from last year. I have grown them from seedlings and I just found out not all will reproduce. So I was disappointed to find out some of the expensive fancy looking hellebores are sterile..
I was disappointed my fancy-pants hellebores are sterile too. And I just about fell out of my chair when I saw $50 on the price tag at English Gardens. I'm hoping to find some at Trade Joe's. I found some a few years ago for $10.
Note that sometimes even though your hellebore may not be able to set seed...it may be able to pollinate another plant to set seed.
Depends on what flower parts are absent that make it unable to set its own seed. Not having the ovaries to make seed, may not mean it doesn't have the pollen to pollinate other flowers that are whole. I think....😁
I'm plagued by the things grow everywhere in my back garden, still they look nice.
Thank you so much for this video. I have some seedling that I’m going to do this with. How long do you wait until you plant them into the ground?
You can plant them into the ground anytime. I potted mine up because I wanted to keep an eye open for them. I have a bad habit of forgetting things and not watering when I need to. I planted a few of the seedlings from this video into the garden in the autumn and they are doing really well this Spring.
Hi there! A neighbor gifted me a hellebore plant which I’ve potted in a large terracotta pot on my back deck. Have you grown these in containers before? I’m happy to know it takes them three years before they bloom, otherwise I’d have thought I was doing something wrong!
I haven't grown them in containers. Our winters get pretty cold so I think the plants here would do better in the ground.
Great idea!! How do you find out if a Hellebores plant produces seeds, is this info on the plant tag?
Thanks. I would just google the variety. It will generally say if it is sterile in the plant description.
I loved this video on Hellebores! My only question is, how do you know which plants are sterile? Thank you in advance! Michele
Thanks Michele. The best thing to do is to look up the hellebore variety online. That will typically be included in the description of the plant.
What a good video ., thank you to share how to propagate this flowers ., I’m from florida ., and never see this plants in store ( “ Home Deport “ or “ Lowe’s “., it’s look like if I’m decided to buy ., I’m need order ., I’m wish you also give information- where you buy and how much its cost .. Zlata Florida …
I am not sure what zone Florida is. Hellebores can grow in Zone 4-9. I purchased my plants at a local Michigan nursery many years ago. I don't recall how much I paid. Thanks for watching the video and thanks for your note.
Ok to do this in the fall? How long do they need to stay in a pot before planting in the ground? Thanks!
I'm going to be planting my seedings into the garden now (Sept here in Michigan). I placed them in pots so I could keep an eye on them to make sure they were doing ok before I found their permanent homes. You can move them directly into the place you want them to grow too.
Sometimes Trader Joe's has Hellebores in the late winter/early spring. If you are lucky to have a Trader Joe's, it's cheaper than $50! I just planted 4 Hellebores last Spring and they are all looking great so far. I'll definitely look for baby Hellebores around them next year! Thanks for the informative video!
That is a great tip. I actually went yesterday, but my local Trader Joe's didn't have any. I did pick some hellebores up about 4 years ago for $10 a piece. Like yours, they are going strong in the garden.
I noticed recently that one of my hellebores had "seeds". Very excited to collect them. How do you winter over the pots of seedlings?
Nice but how do you look at one in a garden center and determine if it’s going to produce seeds or not?
I would definitely google the plant while I was at the garden center. The growers description will say "sterile hybrid" which means it will not produce fertile seeds. If it says nothing than it will probably produce babies. Happy gardening Sean!
Hi,
Shelley left a great comment about this one. I would look the plant up on google. Growers typically list if the hybrid is sterile.
❤ I am trying to grow them from seed…😢 so far just trying. So it was great to see this video with all the close-up of baby plants. Might work for me as well😊 We’ll see!
They are great plants to grow. Thanks for watching the video.
Plant fresh seed immediately in the pots in summer. Leave now shterd are over winter and they should sprout in the following spring.
A layer of gravel to keep the mice out helps and they need vernalization so if your winters are not cold enough they will need a period in your fridge/freezer.
Here in the Midlands of the UK they sprout like weeds😊
Im in the UK, I hardly ever get seedlings, we have a lot of rain and clay soil so maybe its just too wet for them to flourish
I only see seedlings under my Gold Finch variety. They are prolific. My other hellebores appear to be sterile varieties and don't set seed unfortunately.
Still waiting for one to flower that is a little bit special and make me my fortune. 😊
All on my guerilla garden are from seedlings, all of a reasonable or good quality flowers but nothing outstanding yet.
It's so fun to see what they become.