Know and Love the Christmas Rose: Helleborus niger
To know the Christmas Rose is to love the Christmas Rose. Like its cousin the Lenten Rose, this Hellebore blooms during the coldest months of the year. But it’s a Christmas Rose, not a Lenten Rose, so… Ho ho ho! Its gift to you is a mess of beautiful white flowers in plenty of time for Christmas!
By John G. Stamos
Table of Contents
Introduction to the Christmas Rose, Helleborus niger
So, two Fridays ago, my buddy Kevin (also a gardener) and I are out at this amazing garden center situated in Michigan. This place has got everything, and it’s within spitting distance of my house, so I’m there all the time. And, they really know how to do it up for Christmas there… Christmas trees, wreaths, ornaments, holiday-type specialty foods, and exceedingly cool plants that manage to be not just seasonally appropriate, but seasonally perfect… the joint has got it all. On this particular day, a grouping of healthy, bushy green little plants, growing in quart-sized, red wrapping paper-embellished pots, and sporting clusters of the whitest, brightest little flowers and buds, stopped me in my tracks. Then, they picked me up by the front of my sweatshirt and by the seat of my pants, turned me upside down, shook me ’til all the dough spilled out of my pockets, and made me buy two of them: got one for myself and, since I’m such a high roller (and they were only 12 bucks apiece), I bought one for Kevin, too. What were these persuasive little bushes? You got it. Christmas Roses. They’re honest-to-goodness beauties. And, they are more than a sight for sore eyes, not just during the holidays, but all the time…
Greetings, RGG readers and subscribers, and Happy Holidays to you and yours. ‘Tis the season for merrymaking, celebrating, and festivating. ‘Tis the season for holding our loved ones and our fondest memories and wishes near and dear to our hearts. ‘Tis the season for appreciating the particular miracles that matter most in our lives. And, last but not least, ’tis the season of the Christmas Rose, or Helleborus niger,¹ as the more horticulturally-inclined among us know it.
‘Tis the season of the Christmas Rose for two major reasons. The first has to do with the fact that these amazing plants are currently flying off the shelves of better plant nurseries throughout the entire Northern Hemisphere – they’re hugely popular with the Christmas plant buying and gift giving crowds. The second reason – which drives the first reason – is the fact that these beautiful, cold weather-performing plants flower profusely from late fall through early winter (and in some cases to mid winter). And that means their snow white, beautiful blooms are opened wide for Christmas!
So what kind of plant is the Christmas Rose? Is it really a rose? How does it differ from the Lenten Rose? You’ll find the answers to these questions, plus a few more, right here in this article. You’re going to get info on the history, taxonomy, and nomenclature of the Christmas Rose, you’ll get a basic (but fairly effective) guide on how to (usually) tell the difference between a Christmas Rose and a Lenten Rose without the benefit of a detailed plant tag or plant patent number. You’ll get the usual RGG “Nuts and Bolts” section that details the plant’s basic characteristics, my notes from the field, suggestions for planting a Christmas Rose, and more. You’ll get a great product rec or two, and you’ll get this article’s bibliography and “For Further Reading” list. So, Holiday lovers, hold on to the reins because here’s the stuff you’ll want to know about the awesome Christmas Rose. Ho ho ho!
The Christmas Rose: History and Taxonomy
I’ve written fairly extensively here in The Renasissance Garden Guy about the plant genus Helleborus, otherwise known collectively as hellebores.² In “5 Awesome Perennials You Can Plant Right Now,” I explained that early spring is a perfect time to plant Hellebores in my hardiness zone 5B/6A garden. In “Say Hello to Hellebores,” I provided a pretty good rundown of the two major species within the genus Helleborus that are most commonly found in ornamental gardens throughout Europe and the United States. It was a pretty informative article, so much so that I’m going to actually quote a part of it right here in this article. This quoted section goes a long way toward explaining the nomenclature and the taxonomy of the two major Helleborus species and their extremely numerous crosses and hybrids, and explains fairly clearly the difference between a Christmas Rose and a Lenten Rose purely from the standpoint of taxonomy and nomenclature. The quoted section from “Say Hello to Hellebores” is immediately below:
“Genus and Species
The genus Helleborus was established by the Swedish botanist and taxonomist, Carl Linnaeus,³ in 1753. Since that time, twenty-two separate species of Helleborus have been recognized, along with a virtually countless number of hybrids and crosses. Almost all of the original twenty-two species have originated from, and are native to, parts of Europe and Asia. And of those twenty-two species, two are particularly noteworthy in terms of their relevance to ornamental gardening all over the world: Helleborus niger, and Helleborus orientalis.
What’s in a name? Helleborus niger is often known to gardeners as the “Christmas Rose” because of its propensity for winter blooming. Today, it largely exists in ornamental gardens in one of its many hybrid or cross forms. Helleborus orientalis⁴⁻⁶ is known to gardeners the world over as the “Lenten Rose” because it generally blooms from mid/late winter through mid spring, with its peak flower performance typically coinciding with the Christian Lenten period. It, like the Christmas Rose, exists in the realm of ornamental gardening mainly in one of its innumerable hybrid or cross forms. If you buy a “Lenten Rose” for your garden, you can pretty much bet your ass that you’re buying a Helleborus orientalis hybrid or cross. Since so many hybrids and crosses of H. orientalis exist, they are often collectively – and conveniently – referred to as Helleborus x hybridus.
It’s important to note that although these particular hellebores have the word “rose” in their common names, they are not at all closely related to true roses. Neither Christmas Roses nor Lenten Roses are roses. They are hellebores.
Things do get a bit murky in terms of nomenclature when H. niger and/or any of its many hybrid/cross forms are incorrectly lumped into the Lenten Rose, or H. x hybridus category. H. niger and its hybrids/crosses are not Lenten Roses, but H. orientalis and H. x hybridus (the collective and convenient name for H. orientalis’ many hybrids/crosses) are.* It’s possible that some of this confusion arises from the fact that Helen Ballard,⁷ a famous British nursery owner, grower, and hybridizer, successfully created and propagated hybrid forms of both Helleborus niger and Helleborus orientalis. Sometimes her H. niger hybrid (Helleborus x ballardiae, or its crosses), which are Christmas Roses, are incorrectly identified as H. x hybridus, which are H. orientalis hybrids/crosses, and therefore Lenten Roses. Sometimes, the only way (unless you’re a botanist) to determine if a Lenten Rose is really a Lenten Rose (H. orientalis or its hybrids/crosses, H. x hybridus) and not a Christmas Rose (H. niger or its hybrids/crosses), is to check the plant’s official U.S. Patent name (assuming you’re lucky enough to know it), look up the patent in the patent abstract, and find its parentage. I’ve found that some plants that are commonly considered H. x hybridus Lenten Roses actually have H. niger (or its hybrids/crosses) parentage, and are therefore really Christmas Roses.
* Note: There are actual and verifiable hybrids/crosses between Helleborus niger (and/or its own hybrids/crosses) and certain Helleborus x hybridus varieties. In these cases, the resultant plants can be considered Christmas Rose/Lenten Rose hybrids/crosses.
Confusing, huh? For our intents and purposes right here, let me make it easier: Suffice it to say that Christmas Roses are Helleborus niger and its hybrids and crosses. Lenten Roses are Helleborus orientalis and its hybrids and crosses, which are collectively known as Helleborus x hybridus. And some hellebores can be Christmas Rose/Lenten Rose hybrids and/or crosses.“
End of quoted section from “Say Hello to Hellebores.”
What Are the Differences Between a Christmas Rose and a Lenten Rose?
As I wrote above, sometimes the only way for you to be absolutely sure of a particular hellebore’s species is to determine the plant’s parentage by looking up its official U.S. Plant Patent in a patent public search. But this only works if you happen to know the plant’s U.S. Patent name. But all is not necessarily lost if you don’t. There are certain indentifiable physical and physiological characteristics specific to Helleborus niger and Helleborus orientalis (and Helleborus x hybridus), respectively, that can help you determine which hellebore you’re dealing with in the absence of the plant’s patent name. Below are the things I look for when trying to decide if I’ve got a Christmas Rose or a Lenten Rose growing in my garden.
Different flowering times. This is an easy one, sports fans. Christmas Roses bloom much earlier in the season than do Lenten Roses. In my hardiness zone of 5B/6A, Christmas Roses can start flowering as early as late November, but flower buds typically start opening in early to mid December. My Lenten Roses often do set buds by mid to late January, but they generally don’t start actually blooming until March. If your hellebore is blooming at Christmas time, then guess what? It’s a Christmas Rose and not a Lenten Rose. Easy peasy, boys and girls.
A note about flowering times. Growers of many types of flowering perennials intended for retail sale use a process of artificial vernalization (exposure of the plant to prolonged periods of cold)⁸ in order to induce flowering at times that coincide with seasonal/holiday shopping trends. Hellebores like the Christmas Rose and Lenten Rose require no such process to encourage flowering. Hellebores flower when they flower – no human intervention necessary.
Look at the foliage. Although both Christmas Roses and Lenten Roses are acaulescent evergreens (they don’t have visible stems, though there are certain Helleborus species, unlike Christmas and Lenten Roses, that are caulescent and therefore display aerial stems),⁹⁻¹⁰ it’s generally pretty easy to distinguish one species (and its respective crosses and hybrids) from the other by examining its leaves. As a general rule of thumb, Christmas Rose foliage is a darker, deeper green than Lenten Rose foliage, and it’s typically smoother, both in appearance and to the touch. Both species possess comparatively thick, leathery leaves, but Lenten Rose foliage is generally substantially more textured, almost to the point of being rugose.
Look at the flowers (and buds). Christmas Rose flowers are almost always single in form, and bright, clear white in color. Over the course of a few weeks, some of the flowers on my Christmas Rose bushes develop a very light greenish cast to their petals. I know gardeners who grow these amazing little bushes here in my hardiness zone who witness white flowers not only turning light green as they age, but even a pale pinkish. But these color changes occur after the flowers have been open for a while. The buds and blooms on Christmas Roses are, for all intents and purposes, bright white, and they’re single in form. Lenten Roses, on the other hand, can have flowers that range from white to red to nearly blue, with limitless patterns and variegations. And many of the new Lenten Rose hybrids feature double flowers. I’ve got one of hybridizer Hans Hansen’s amazing Wedding Party® series examples called ‘Dashing Groomsmen’ that features double flowers that open nearly dark blue. Unlike these wild colors and forms of Lenten Rose blooms, Christmas Rose blooms are pure, simple white in color, and single in form. Additionally, at least in the case of my Christmas and Lenten Roses, the buds and flowers of Christmas Roses are smaller than those of Lenten Roses. Where some of the blooms on my Lenten Roses are frequently over 4″ in diameter, and buds can be over 2″ in length, my Christmas Rose blooms never seem to get larger than 1-1/2″ to 3″ in diameter, and the tiny buds are always less (sometimes substantially so) than an inch in length. Christmas Roses have smaller buds and flowers than do Lenten Roses.
A note about petal count. Followers of my RGG Twitter (X) account will maybe remember a goof that I made in a recent post. I erroneously identified my newest Christmas Rose as a ‘Jonas’ Christmas Rose. Big mistake. My own plant, which wasn’t identified as anything but a ‘Helleborus,’ is undoubtedly one of the innumerable crosses or hybrids that exist within H. niger species (which, you’ll remember, are collectively simply referred to as H. niger), but it definitely is NOT a ‘Jonas.’ This is made clear by the fact that my own new bush blooms with five-petaled flowers. The ‘Jonas’ bush’s flowers have seven petals. My bad. (Duuuhhhh.)
Christmas Rose Natural Habitat and Distribution
The Christmas Rose has a natural distribution in mountainous regions throughout parts of Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, and Croatia.¹ Since the plant has been in cultivation, it can be found in ornamental gardens throughout the world, wherever the climate is hospitable.
Christmas Rose Nuts and Bolts
Growing Christmas Roses: The Basics
Plant family – Ranunculaceae (besides Helleborus, includes such other well known genera as Ranunculus, Delphinium, and Clematis). Height – 12-20″. Spread – 18– 24″. Light – full shade to partial sun, but can handle more sun in winter. Bloom color – white (with older blooms sometimes tinging to light green or ligt pink). Bloom size – 1-1/2′ to 3″. Bloom time – late fall to mid winter. Foliage – evergreen, dark green, tough, leathery, smooth to touch. Hardiness – zones 4–9. Root system – deep, extensive, tap root system. Soil – moist, well-drained, slightly alkaline. Growth rate – slow. Pollinators – Helleborus niger blooms during the coldest months of the year when no active pollinators are present, but old blooms remaining in spring are visited by bumblebees in my garden. Toxicity – all parts of Helleborus niger and its hybrids/crosses, and all parts of Helleborus orientalis/H. x hybridus are highly toxic and potentially lethal to all mammals, including humans and pets. Pest resistance – excellent. Not bothered by mammalian pests, virtually no known insect pests, virtually no slug damage in my garden. Good fungus and pathogen resistance. Potentially can be harmed or killed by fungal root and crown rot. Never an issue in my garden. Longevity – at least 10 years and often much, much longer. Propagation – division and self-sowing.
Notes from the Field
All of my hellebores are planted in the shadiest sections of my garden, in well-drained, slightly alkaline to alkaline soil. They thrive beautifully in these conditions, and grow larger every year. My oldest individual hellebore is six or seven years old and it continues to grow more robust each year. All of my Lenten Roses were planted in late winter and early spring when the ground was cold but workable. Late fall (the month of November) is typically a good time to plant a Christmas Rose in my hardiness zone of 5B/6A, as long as the ground is workable. If it gets too late into the season, and I still haven’t gotten them in the ground, I’ll keep them potted indoors through much of the winter and then plant them outdoors in late winter or early spring. In my garden, although they’re still really easy to care for, Christmas Roses tend to be slightly more finicky than their Lenten Rose cousins. Since they seem to be most sensitive to soil pH levels, I’m sure to maintain alkaline/slightly alkaline soil conditions in their specific sections of the garden.
Suggestions for Planting Christmas Roses Outdoors in Late Fall, Late Winter, or Early Spring
Plant them when you’re sure the ground is workable. If you’re anything like me, and your Christmas Roses come to you in potted and flowering form courtesy of a visit to a garden center during the holidays, it’ll be late fall and you’ll be wondering if you should try to plant them before it gets too cold outside. As I mentioned in the above field notes, as long as the ground is workable, a newly planted Christmas Rose will have a chance to begin developing the root system that will enable it to get through the winter. The best case scenario for planting a Christmas Rose in the late fall involves doing it at the front of a predicted string (a week or more?) of substantially warm days. These conditions will allow the plant to take root and begin the process of extending those roots (including a very long tap root) down into the soil, absorbing essential nutrients and moisture, and battening down the hatches on its evergreen, aerial foliage. If you’ve got doubts about the ground staying warm and workable long enough to bed your Christmas Rose and to allow it to sufficiently start rooting, then I strongly suggest waiting to bed it until planting conditions optimize in late winter or early spring. In the meantime, you can transfer it to a larger pot, and enjoy its beautiful flowers indoors as it blooms throughout the holidays.
Soil. Helleborus niger likes a moist, well-drained soil that has an alkaline to slightly alkaline pH level (7.2 – 8.0 should work well). My hellebores have never received any special feeding or fertilizing, and they’ve grown, thrived, and flowered beautifully. Since the soil in my garden tends to run slightly acidic, the only soil amending I do for any of my hellebores involves the application of garden lime to maintain their soil’s alkalinity.
Water. If your Christmas Roses are planted in a well-drained soil, regular watering (NOT overwatering!!!) will do them good. Although they’re very drought-tolerant thanks to their very long tap roots, they’re not terribly crazy about being left to dry out for long periods of time.
Christmas Rose Long-term Care: Your Ongoing Duties
This one’s a piece of cake, boys and girls.
Pruning. As you’ve learned earlier in this article, both Christmas Roses (H. niger and its hybrids/crosses) and Lenten Roses (H. orientalis/H. x hybridus) are acaulescent hellebore species. Even though their flowers emerge on leafless flower stalks, they have no true visible, aerial main stems. Their leaves and leaf stems appear to erupt directly out of the ground. Very cool, I think. As far as pruning those flower stalks and leaves is concerned, as I’ve written in previous articles, it is mostly a matter of personal taste. Some members of my local gardening cabal like to chop off cold/frost-damaged leaves at the end of winter (they’ll get a lttle brown at the margins, and their stems weaken and sort of “splay out”) in order to prevent any potential sogginess-turning-to-fungal-infection situations from arising. I happen to like the way those leaves look at the end of winter, so I generally leave them in place until mid April, or thereabouts. I definitely leave the flower stalks alone until really late fall or early winter. The flowers and leafy flower stem bracts remain somewhat intact until that time, and I like the way they look. So I leave all of that in place.
Check soil pH. Hellebores are extremely tough, non-demanding plants. (As I mentioned earlier, I never even fertilize mine.) At least in the case of my Lenten Roses, some minor dips in pH levels have caused no problems whatsoever. Christmas Roses are a little more sensitive to pH levels, and since they do prefer slightly alkaline to alkaline soil, and the soil in my garden generally tends to be slightly acidic, I do keep an eye on the dirt in which my Christmas Roses grow. Since I originally bedded them with garden lime mixed into their soil, their immediate soil environment has remained slightly alkaline (a pH of around 7.5). It’s all good. I’ll work a few handfuls of garden lime into their soil a few times throughout the spring, summer, and fall, and it makes them really happy.
So, a little minor pruning and some soil pH babysitting, plus making sure they don’t kill anyone (I’m completely serious about this – you’ll read about it immediately below), is about all you’ve got to do to keep your Christmas Roses, and the people and pets who enjoy them, happy as little clams. Simple, baby. Simple.
Growing Your Christmas Rose and Other Hellebores Safely (and Succesfully): Toxicity, People, Pets, and Pests
The little disclaimer that follows has been ressurected from an earlier RGG article about hellebores. And paying attention to it is just as critical now as it was when it first appeared here in The RGG. So listen up, kids. I’m damned serious here:
Hellebores (including H. niger/H. niger hybrids and H. orientalis/H. x hybridus) are toxic to all mammals, including humans. They contain three active ingredients, glycosides, saponin, and helleborin, each of which adversely and acutely affects a separate, specific bodily function. Ingesting any part of a hellebore can be fatal. Don’t eat any part of a hellebore, don’t let your kids eat any part of a hellebore, and don’t let your pets eat any part of a hellebore. Got it? I’m absolutely serious. These things can kill you.
I’ve found that my own hellebores’ toxicity has resulted in one specific benefit: No mammalian pests ever screw with them. Voles and chipmunks, which are periodic intruders, give my hellebores a wide berth. Do these critters possess an instinctive avoidance mechanism? Does the plant taste terrible? Did the news spread after one or two of them tried the sampler platter and kicked the bucket? Is it a combination of all three? I have no idea. What I do know is that nobody messes with the hellebores.
Product Recs
So, when have I ever written an RGG How-to article that didn’t include a few excellent product recommendations? Answer: Never. And I ain’t starting now. I’ve got two good ones for you right here. They’ll help you grow your own awesome Christmas Rose bushes. Here you go…
Luster Leaf Rapitest 4-way Soil Analyzer. I bought this Luster Leaf Rapitest 4-way soil analysis meter in February of 2022 and have used it successfully time and time again since then to test for soil fertility and pH levels. It also measures sunlight and soil moisture levels. It’s fast, easy to use, convenient, and accurate. By using this device, I’ve been able to determine the necessity of appropriate fertilizer applications and pH amending to the soil of a large number of the plants in my garden. It helps me keep an accurate eye on the pH of my hellebores’ soil. Order it here, directly from Amazon, by clicking the #advertisement link. Note that this unit doesn’t test for iron levels in soil. Also note that I really love this little meter!
Espoma Organic Garden Lime is the perfect product for increasing alkalinity levels in soil. It can be mixed with the bedding soil, or used to top dress soil around plants which are already in the ground. I use this to amend the soil of any of my plants with a preference for alkaline pH levels, like my hellebores. Order this product here, from Amazon, by clicking the #advertisement link.
Bibliography/For Further Reading
Below is this article’s bibliography. It’s the list of cited works that assisted me in writing this article. As always, each entry is listed in link form, so you can click on any of one them to give it a read if you’ve got further interest.
- “Helleborus niger.” Wikipedia, pp. 1-5.
- “Hellebore.” Wikipedia, pp. 1-20.
- “Carl Linnaeus.” Wikipedia, pp. 1-36.
- “Helleborus orientalis.” Wikipedia, pp. 1-3.
- “Helleborus x hybridus (Ballard’s Group).” Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder, pp. 1-2.
- “Helleborus x hybridus (red hybrid).” Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder, pp. 1-2.
- “Helen Ballard.” Wikipedia, pp. 1- 2.
- “Vernalization.” Wikipedia, pp. 1-6.
- “Acaulescent.” The Daily Garden, 12/28/2017, pp. 1-5.
- Sabine. “Christmas roses: origin, varieties, propagation & Co.” Plantura Magazine, pp. 4-5.
Abbiamo finito, amici miei!
That’s it, gang. We’re at the end. It’s been a long one, and I’m glad you stuck it out. Because now, you’ve got the Christmas Rose skinny. You know Christmas Rose history, taxonomy, and nomenclature. You know how to spot the differences between a Christmas Rose and a Lenten Rose. You know the Christmas Rose’s natural habitat and distribution. You know how and when to stick a Christmas Rose in the ground, you know how to grow one the right way, and you know how to keep it from killing anybody. You’ve got a couple of excellent product recs and you’ve got some additional good reading to do if the spirit moves you thus. The Christmas Rose, Helleborus niger, is a beautiful little plant that’s gorgeous throughout the whole year. But at Christmastime, it’s especially beautiful. And demanding. Just try walking past a display of these things at your local nursery during the holidays without taking a few of them home with you. I know I can’t do it – these things really grab me.
As always, my dear readers and subscribers, I thank you for your kind interest and readership. And, to those of you who celebrate, and to your loved ones, I wish the merriest of holiday seasons, and a healthy, happy, and prosperous 2025.
Cheers, and Happy Gardening!
The Renaissance Garden Guy is a participant in the Amazon Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Additionally, The Renaissance Garden Guy is a participant in the Bluehost, SeedsNow, and A2 Hosting affiliate programs. I earn a fee/commission each time a visitor clicks on an ad or banner on this site from one of these companies and makes a subsequent qualifying purchase.
Please click here to view The Renaissance Garden Guy Disclosure page.
I recently bought a Christmas rose plant which immediately died. The store replaced it, but I’m concerned about keeping this one alive. The last one I watered sparingly but it yellowed and died quickly. Advice?? Thanks.
Thanks for reading the article and reaching out, Rick. These plants do best growing outdoors in appropriate hardiness zones. They need cold weather to generate new foliage and flowers. But, as I’d written in the article, most of the time they’re only made available to gardeners around the Christmas holiday. Unfortunately, in many parts of the world, the ground is frozen and hard at this time and it’s impossible to get a hellebore planted. If you’re aiming to keep your potted hellebore alive indoors until late winter/early spring, keep the following hellebore info in mind: 1) They have very deep and extensive tap root systems, so there’s a good chance that your specimen is potbound in its original pot. Help it out by moving it to a bigger pot. 2) They need well-drained, slightly acidic soil. Even though they don’t like to dry out, waterlogging them is worse. Mix a few handfuls of garden lime into the soil when you re-pot it. Even though it takes several weeks for the lime to start to raise the soil pH, it’s a good idea to start the process ASAP. 3) They’re shade lovers. Keep them out of full, bright, direct sunlight.
Bear in mind that your hellebore is going to lose some foliage not only immediately after you first bring it home/re-pot it, but throughout the warm, indoor days it spends until you move it outside. If some leaves die, prune them off and throw them away where people or pets can’t get to them. One final suggestion, if you’ve got a cooler indoor space that gets a decent amount of natural light, you might try moving your plant there.
Hope this info helps. Best of luck!
Completely appropriate subject for Christmas Eve. Many thanks for introducing me to this beautiful plant/flower.
Happy holidays
Thanks for reading the article, Rick. I thought it was a great little plant to write about at this particular time, too. I appreciate your kind thoughts and your interest, Rick. Thanks once again.
My Christmas Rose is beautiful. It is a miracle that this is when it blooms. The flowers are so white when they open,but now, some of them have a pale green tint. I really love it. It is going to be wonderful to see it blooming in the yard next year! Thank you, John.
Thanks for reading the article, Kevin. I’m glad you’re loving your Christmas Rose – what’s not to love? Cheers!
In-depth article! Thank you, John. I have been considering growing hellebores. I think I have a good spot under a willow tree. I just transplanted some iris there this year and they are doing great. The poisonous aspect does concern me. Sonny had his privileges to the way back revoked (after scaring the bunnies and causing Flora to run away for 3 months) which is where the willow tree is located. However, Rufus, the orange, is a free roamer. He tends to stick to his cat mint, chives and grasses. I don’t know how he would feel about hellebores. I worry more about my houseplants that are poisonous than my outside plants. Hellebores are so gorgeous, though. Guess I’m still on the fence. Cheers!
Thanks for reading the article, Lane. I’m glad it was helpful. Both of the species we typically find in gardens (H. orientalis and H. niger) are amazing little bushes. There’s really nothing quite like experiencing the fresh growth and blooming during the depths of winter. I understand your caution. Maybe the old saying about curiosity and the cat should be your guiding principle. In any event, I wish you luck, and I wish you and yours the happiest of holidays. Thanks again, Lane!
Hi John;
At first look to me the Christmas rose looked like part of the Dogwood family. Looking closer I could tell it wasn’t. Thanks for the information.
Have a good holiday and a healthy new year.
Scott.
Thanks for reading the article, Scott, and for commenting here. I can understand the resemblance you’re mentioning. Both types of plants are beautiful. Thanks once again, Scott, and Happy holidays to you and yours.