Most hellebores are relatively care-free plants. As with many ornamental perennials, adequate soil preparation is the key to long term health and vigor. Though hellebores will grow in a great variety of soil conditions, a well-drained base containing plenty of organic matter suits them. Preparing deep beds will provide the extensive root systems plenty of growing room and potentially many decades of healthy growth. Ideally, the soil should receive regular moisture without being waterlogged. However, the plants are surprisingly drought-tolerant once established and can survive in less than optimum conditions.

Almost invariably hellebores are sold as shade plants. One of the benefits is that they will tolerate shady conditions, but by no means are they shade-loving plants. Many of my plants receive full afternoon sun throughout the year, and all of them receive virtually no shade from November-March. Plants in deep shade will live but generally exhibit sparser growth and produce fewer blooms.

There are some problems and diseases that deserve attention. Two of the ugliest are 'Black Spot' and 'Black Death', the latter being fatal to the plant and a very serious concern for hellebore collectors. On old leaves it is normal to see browning and blackening of tissues as the individual leaves go through their natural life cycles; however, there are cases where blackening of tissue is observed in otherwise active and healthy tissue. Let's hope that if nurseries and growers take this seriously that none of us will have to worry about it in our gardens. Generlly healthy plants growing in well ventilated environments do not show any blackening on actively growing tissue.

Cut back the leaves on your Hellebores to avoid black spot and to show off the flowers. When the flowers are over, new fresh leaves will appear.