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Hellabore Help

Should I cut my plants down to ground level now or just leave them as I did last year.  The flowers are shrirvelling and the leaves are going black.

Any help with this would be good and any general help with Hellabore care.

Cheers

Alan

Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147

    Leave them as they are. image  A good watering and mulching with organic material such as leafmould or homemade compost would be good. 


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Trouble is Dove that they are planted in the lawn and a little bit in the way

  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618

    I don't think hellebores will thrive in a lawn.  Try lifting them and moving them to a border in part shade, then mulch well  as Dove advises.

  • treehugger80treehugger80 Posts: 1,923

    you can cut the old flower spikes off as that will stop them producing seed, unless you want them to spread in which case don't cut the flower spikes off.

    leaves should only be removed once the new flower spikes start appearing in November (so they should stay a glossy green till then - not black, that sounds like they've got a disease?), so growing in the lawn and cutting the leaves now will kill them eventually, as all plants need leaves.

  • imageHere they are quite happy in the lawn, still tempted to cut one down and leave the other and see what happens

    Last edited: 16 June 2017 20:20:27

  • treehugger80treehugger80 Posts: 1,923

    they won't be very happy once you cut the leaves off, like I said you're cutting off their food supply, every year they'll get weaker until one year they wont come back.

  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039

    Don't cut them down !

    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
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