Forum home› Tools and techniques
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

advice please on growing on helleborus argutifolius seedlings

FireFire Posts: 19,096
in Tools and techniques
I have just potted up about 200 argutifolius  (Corsican / holly-leaved) seedlings/plants for neighbours and would like to make sure I recommend the right things for them to grow on well, as there are so many. Some may be going into our local park too. With all the rain periodically this spring/summer, about eight years of seeds germinated and a carpet of green appeared. They look rudely healthy and have good root systems. 

I read that the plants don't like being moved much, but I hoping that they are ok with it as babies. I would guess that the seedlings should be kept in small pots over winter and then planted out into final spot in the spring / when the roots have filled the pot. I assume that would help give them tlc and that planting that transplanting them right into gardens now would make life much harder for them.

My understanding is that
they are deep rooted, so not great for containers
they don’t like to be moved once established 
good for partial shade or sun
they may need staking if in shade
they are long season bee plants
might self seed themselves around
they should flower next year
important to make sure they don’t dry out over the winter
keep the small pots high, away from slugs while small



«1

Posts

  • Danae(dan-Ah-ee)Danae(dan-Ah-ee) Posts: 966
    I sow mine as soon as the pods are ripe.  They germinate both in pots and on the ground.  They don't flower for two or three years.  I have never used old seed, so I don't know how successful its germination rate is then.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    edited October 2023
    Ah, thanks. I read the seedlings should flower next year.
  • EustaceEustace Posts: 2,290
    @Fire I planted a tiny 2-leaved seedling in a pot, it flowered only in its third year.
    Oxford. The City of Dreaming Spires.
    And then my heart with pleasure fills,
    And dances with the daffodils (roses). Taking a bit of liberty with Wordsworth :)

  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    I find they will grow almost anywhere, from full sun to fairly deep shade. Agree that they don't tend to flower until 3 years old.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    edited October 2023
    Good to know. Thanks

    I'm hoping slightly bigger plants might get a shufty on flowering sooner



  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    edited October 2023
    Do you think people could put these in the ground right now - and let them grow quietly away? 

    I would think normally one would recommend keeping them in small pots over winter to let them develop a good root system and then pot out in the spring. But perhaps they could handle being planted staight out? It's still very warm here in London 24C here today. Thoughts welcome.
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    My idea with anything that sets seed on their own in the garden,  can be left in the garden.
    I know of people that feel the need to dig them up and put them in pots,  I don’t know why,  I just leave them where they seed and move them if I want them somewhere else. 
    I don’t know what sort I have,   various varieties over the years, but last year I dug them all up from various places in the garden and planted them all together in one bed.  Some of them were huge root balls,  They all flowered this year.
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • LG_LG_ Posts: 4,360
    My instinct would be to get them straight into the ground, but I haven't done it with H. argutifolius. Was fine with other Hellebores. 
    'If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.'
    - Cicero
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    edited October 2023


    Lyn 

    I know of people that feel the need to dig them up and put them in pots. I don't know why

    I guess the idea is that with baby plants we pot them up and can give them extra TLC and attention. My rose or salvia babies tend to get forgotten, trodden on and uprooted by mistake, I nearly always forget they are there.  So I often to lift a prized baby, look after it, get a strong root system on it, watch it and then plant it out in a final position in the spring. That's my idea, anyway. In my garden, things are generally safer in pots.

    We are supposed to be going into winter, also. I would think a new small plant, 5 or 10cm tall put in now, with a small rootball, would not have much time, necessarily, to settle in the new place, able to withstand frost, deluge, dark etc.

    We have a terrible time with slugs locally and I suspect very many of these small plants will be snaffled. I try and keep plants in small pots high up, away from molluscs.

    I have a little oak that I was delighted to see had seeded itself near my front path. I should have potted it up, for fun, but instead I forgot it was there and plonked a pot on top of it and now it is probably dead.

  • LG_LG_ Posts: 4,360
    That's a logical argument. But I have found that with every move, Hellebores tend to take longer to get established, so I would minimise the number of moves and get them done asap. They're tough plants ime. Obviously they're better off in a pot than forgotten and damaged, but most of those are quite sizeable and personally I'd be getting them into their final position.
    'If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.'
    - Cicero
Sign In or Register to comment.