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Warwickshire, United Kingdom

Please could you tell me when to take the leaves of my hellebores




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I'd have thought it was a bit early for any of them to be flowering yet - the only reason to remove some (and only some) of the OLDER leaves is if they're blocking view of the flowers. Dead or dying leaves can be removed any time you like.

14 Jan, 2018

 

Many of ours are in flower now and I removed all the leaves about a week ago. Leaf removal only really applies to H. orientalis hybrids. The other Hellebores should only have dead leaves taken off.
H. orientalis and hybrids do not need the old leaves which will die down in Spring in any case as the plant produces new ones. The old leaves can be a source of fungal problems which is why they are best removed.

14 Jan, 2018

 

Mine are subject to a horrible black fungal leaf disease which develops in the autumn and if left on may infect the leaves of the following years, so I take them off before the new growth starts in early spring.

14 Jan, 2018

 

Interesting comments. All three of you above are experienced gardeners and you all recommend different things. I would expect that you all grow excellent examples of hellibors. Isn't gardening fun!

14 Jan, 2018

 

I think my reply was the same as Owdboggy's, just expressed differently. I removed our leaves two days ago - most of the new shoots are only just starting to grow.
(But I think they should have been removed earlier because they were quite badly attacked with the dreaded black patches)

14 Jan, 2018

 

I'm not a lover of Hellebores, Bulba, so haven't much experience of growing them; the only one I like and have grown is H. argutifolius for its structural leaves, so I defer to Owdboggy on this one!

14 Jan, 2018

 

We do have a few......................hundred.
As I said, it is only the oriental types which have the leaves removed.

15 Jan, 2018

 

Lol...it is fun BA. now this has been helpful for me. I always remove the leaves from my orientalis hybrids when I see the new shoots getting strong and as long as the weather isnt freezing cold. I’ve done some already as some of mine start flowering in autumn, but most are still waiting to be done. However, I have been unsure about my H. Niger leaves. There are so many flowers on them and most are hidden by the leaves, of which some are really badly blackened. I think I shall remove them as well, and we’ll see if it causes any problems. But I’ll leave a few of the healthy looking leaves just incase.

18 Jan, 2018

 

I would do exactlt the same, Karen, it won't harm the plants.

18 Jan, 2018

 

Thanks BA :)

19 Jan, 2018

How do I say thanks?

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