{"id":6846,"date":"2014-12-18T12:00:06","date_gmt":"2014-12-18T17:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=6846"},"modified":"2014-10-16T22:51:03","modified_gmt":"2014-10-17T02:51:03","slug":"new-christmas-roses-hellebores-greatly-improved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2014\/12\/18\/new-christmas-roses-hellebores-greatly-improved\/","title":{"rendered":"New Christmas Roses (Hellebores) Greatly Improved"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_6848\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Helleborus-niger.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6848\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-6848 \" alt=\"Helleborus niger Gold Collection\u00ae var 'Jacob'\" src=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Helleborus-niger-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Helleborus-niger-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Helleborus-niger-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-6848\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Newly planted Helleborus niger Gold Collection\u00ae var &#8216;Jacob&#8217;<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Christmas roses (<i>Helleborus niger<\/i>)\u00a0is a\u00a0winter flowering perennial. It is native to central and southern Europe (USDA hardiness zones 4-8) and\u00a0is not as winter hardy as lenten rose (<i>Helleborus x orientalis<\/i>). Christmas rose tends to flower 1 to 4 weeks earlier, around the Christmas holidays in southern climes (zones 7-8). New selections of\u00a0<em>H. niger<\/em>\u00a0are better garden performers than previous selections.<\/p>\n<p>Large cup-shaped white or soft-pink flowers gradually age to a\u00a0pale green color, but some individual blooms may\u00a0take on\u00a0a pinkish tint in cool weather. Colder than normal fall-winter temperatures frequently delays flower development.<\/p>\n<p>Somewhat slow to establish,\u00a0Christmas rose\u00a0grows to 12 to 18 inches high and about as wide. Leathery dark green summer foliage loses much of its attractiveness through the winter months. Prune off basal (lower) leaves which age first. \u00a0One-gallon size plants purchased in the spring and sited correctly\u00a0start blooming within two winters.<\/p>\n<p>Christmas rose performs best in partial sun to partial shade and in compost-rich,\u00a0moist, low acid to mildly alkaline\u00a0pH soils. Morning light exposure is best; avoid direct afternoon sunlight in southerly climes (zones 7-9). Keep plant(s) watered\u00a0during long dry spells. Overwatering leads to plant decline and death.<\/p>\n<p>This long-lived perennial rarely need to be divided. Christmas rose may prolifically self-sow nearby the \u201cmother plant\u201d and most seedlings should be grubbed out. Insects and diseases rarely trouble hellebores. Slugs and aphids are occasional pests.<\/p>\n<p>Fertilize plants in early spring to stimulate new growth. Feed with a slow-release fertilizer such as Osmocote\u2122 or Nutricote\u2122. An alternative is to feed bi-monthly (until mid-August) with water soluble products such as Miracle-Gro\u2122, Nature\u2019s Choice\u2122, or Schultz\u2122.<\/p>\n<p>Their leathery leaves are utilized for winter holiday decorations. <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Caution:<\/span> when handling plants, protect exposed arms and hands with a long sleeved shirt and gloves as foliage and sap\u00a0are serious skin irritants.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Christmas roses (Helleborus niger)\u00a0is a\u00a0winter flowering perennial. It is native to central and southern Europe (USDA hardiness zones 4-8) and\u00a0is not as winter hardy as lenten rose (Helleborus x orientalis). Christmas rose tends to flower 1 to 4 weeks earlier, around the Christmas holidays in southern climes (zones 7-8). New selections of\u00a0H. niger\u00a0are better [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,398,1037,778,645,674,800,665,1091,625,843,975,601,729,1140,962,1141,777,705,646,113,708,455],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6846"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6846"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6862,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6846\/revisions\/6862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}