Lenten Roses
In addition these plants are seen blooming in early spring often during the lent season.
Lenten roses. Lenten rose helleborus x hybridus makes a wonderful addition to the shade garden or naturalized area with a bloom time heralding the beginning of springthey grow well in usda cold hardiness zones 4 9 which covers all of south carolina and are a fantastic choice even for beginning gardeners. Sam says that calls from customers who have lost plants usually reveal that they have used automatic sprinklers that kept. Lenten rose plants helleborus x hybridus are not roses at all but a hellebore hybridthey are perennial flowers that derived their name from the fact that the blooms look similar to that of a rose. Valued for its early blooms of purple red yellow green blue lavender and pink and its leathery evergreen foliage lenten roses contribute good color throughout the.
Lenten rose helleborus x hybridus a perennial belonging to the buttercup family is not actually a roseits two part common name refers to the plants bloom season around lent and the rose like shape of its flower buds. Commonly known as hellebores h l b r z the eurasian genus helleborus consists of approximately 20 species of herbaceous or evergreen perennial flowering plants in the family ranunculaceae within which it gave its name to the tribe of helleboreae. Despite names such as winter rose christmas rose and lenten rose hellebores are not closely related to the rose family. Helleborus orientalis also known as the lenten rose is a perennial flowering plant and species of hellebore in the buttercup family ranunculaceae native to greece and turkey.
There is no overlooking the sheer unlimited shapes and colours of spring promise lenten roses helleborus x hybridusthe close relatives of the christmas rose take the garden out of its dormancy with a striking show of colours. North florida and coastal gardeners need to provide full shade fertile soil and perfect drainage. Your soil ph should be about 7. You can expect your plant to grow about 18 tall and 18 wide.
The plants are cold hardy in usda zones 4 8. Lenten roses i have posted several times in the past about the roses of winterlenten rose christmas rose and their kinnone of which are roses at all or even closely related. Jean baptiste lamarck described the species in 1789 giving it its current name of helleborus orientalis hellebore du levant. The species name is derived from the latin oriens east.
Its no secret that the grump loves lenten rose one of the two best perennials for shade ill let you argue about the other oneit combines handsome evergreen foliage with beautiful winter blossoms of pink burgundy red purple white and green that last for weeks. Lenten roses need light shade and well drained soil. Lenten roses multi faceted heralds of spring.