Hellebore fever is relatively recent for me. Not that I haven't enjoyed those I've had for many years - I just hadn't crossed that threshold from liking them to being a bit nuts about them. It's an easy leap to make, these are such marvelous plants. Most of them are so easy to grow and burnish our gardens in the dreary days before Spring truly arrives.
More About Growing From Seed
As I mentioned in Part 1, I've had mixed success with my seed growing. My failures were due, I now know, to buying dry stored seed from a seed company. They, of course, want to sell seed, so they don't tell you that it is going to take a really long time for most of it to germinate, if it ever does, once it has been dry stored for more than a few weeks.
If you are growing hellebores, you have probably found self-sown seedlings (unless you're exceptionally tidy-minded and erase any seedlings the minute they appear in your borders). These are H. argutifolius seedlings coming up around the mature plants in Rolf van de Pavert's Netherlands garden. I like the determined child that poked itself right up through the leaf!
These self-sown children can be easily moved while still quite tiny and potted up. Those that end up in the crown of the parent plant need to be removed, whether they can be saved or not, so they don't create problems for the parent as they grow. One thing to remember about hellebore seedlings - never hold them by the stem, always use the leaves as a handle. The stems are quite sensitive and will bend and turn black where grasped, no matter how gently.
If you have access to fresh seed, sow it immediately for best results. If you obtain seed from an exchange, or other source, that does not arrive until fall, it is still best to sow it as soon as you get it. Under favorable circumstances, fresh hellebore seed (except that of H. niger and H. vesicarius) sown in summer will germinate before Christmas.
Potting Compost
The mix in which you sow your seeds should be loose and free-draining with a high organic material content. Those of you in the UK can use John Innes seed compost. In the US, a good quality bagged compost especially for seeds will do. You may need to add extra grit, perlite or bark fines if it doesn't look like it will drain well.
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