Leaf Spot
OK – there’ll be lots pictures of flowers, but let’s have a question to go with them: should we remove hellebore leaves in the autumn (or maybe later?) so the flowers can show off without them? And maybe that way you’ll also reduce or get rid of the dreaded hellebore leaf spot.
I went to look for leaf spot, to get you a picture. None of the plants (and there are a good many) in the garden offered me any for a pic. I found some in a seed tray in the nursery though:
So – am I just lucky to have so little leaf spot? The RHS suggest we should remove all affected leaves, or use various chemical controls. Here’s another nice picture to cheer you up after that dire news. Later addition: I have been told this is not leaf spot and I now have no idea what leaf spot looks like. But here’s the expert take on it.
Now here’s a confession. I have had hellebore leaf spot. Or at least I have left leaves with leaf spots on the plants and even let them die and rot off. I have no idea why my multitude of hellebores is still thriving, but it is. Make of this what you will.
I also get a virus on my hostas and have been advised before now to dig the affected ones up and burn them. Or, alternative approach, feed them. I have done neither and my hostas have survived and return annually, often surprisingly spotless. Strangely, we still sometimes get the virus. It seems to pop up on different plants rather randomly.
Now, you must realise this is not advice. I just am a lazy gardener and I am reporting the results, as they happened, in my garden/climate/country. OK? Another pic…
Next question: do we like our hellebore flowers naked?
Some people are quite sure about this and they are the ones who take the leaves off the plants even if the leaves are immaculate. That always makes me nervous – I tend to think plants shed leaves when the leaves have served their purpose and if they still have happy leaves those leaves are probably doing something useful.
And I am not really sure that I like the bare, sticky up look of a shorn hellebore. But I realise as I search for a photograph of some (in vain) that there are differences amongst them that must make a difference to how they appear with no leaves. For example:
These are quite stalky. But these
being more floriferous, and having quite a lot of leaf around the flower, look less gaunt.
This one is very stalky and I find looks best from above
My emerging point is that perhaps ideally hellebores would be treated individually, because some may look better with their leaves and some look all right without. The one above is just not very leafy. These are leafy:
and I like seeing them with their leaves.
What do you think?
Useful hint – think mouse before you keep hellebores in your greenhouse, the better to enjoy them at a nice height. Mice et mine.
And here’s some more hellebore pics, because you’ve been good. Xxx
That’s it, folks!
Well I feel some sense of responsibility for a hellebore or two in your garden! Here, at any time of year I remove any leaves showing signs of age, death or whatever. Otherwise I leave the leaves on the small nigers intact but remove all the basal leaves from the larger types as the flower buds begin to break. Any leaves which aren’t growing from ground level stay on until I cut the dead flower stems back. Meanwhile new basal leaves emerge of course. Works fine for me. (Incidentally telegraph poles are round; sleepers are not. Totally different proposition. As are balls and spheres. Looking forward to seeing the effect when Charles gets round to it – AFTER a walk or two. xx)
But you don’t say why you do those things with your leaves?
There are, as you know, various schools of thought which tend to conflict with each other. Over time, I’ve tried the various approaches and find that what I do now works best. The small nigers – really not much bigger than primroses – flower low and the leaves cushion the flowers from the soil and provide contrast for them. The taller-flowering varieties look better without the rather untidy-looking mound of leaves at their base, the removal of which makes way for bright emerging new foliage that looks much better. I have found that this is best done as the flower buds start to open and on a plant by plant basis rather than at a specific time. I’ve not encountered any leaf spot or other problems with hellebores since adopting this approach. (I also employ a capable rodent and rabbit exterminator, when he’s not curled up asleep somewhere.)
Excellent…Xx
In my last garden, I had a gorgeous Annas Red. It had a slight yellow marbling in the leaves which contrasted beautifully with the dark red blooms, so I always kept the leaves.
That is a gorgeous plant.
Personally I cut all the old leaves off in the late autumn – I just think they detract from the flowers if you leave them on, and also get in the way of new leaves growing
A question that has vexed me for some time. Tony Avent of Plant Delights in Raleigh North Carolina stated they cut off the foliage in December. So this year I cut off the foliage during a warm spell in mid January. Sadly, that was followed by 9 and 10 degrees Fahrenheit nights which turned budding Helleborus and any new foliage black overnight. So I am going back to my old system: remove old foliage that’s on the ground, remove other foliage only if ugly, leave the rest.
That was some frost you were unlucky enough to have!
I remove the leaves from my Hellebores primarily for the reasons you state in your first paragraph; to better display the flowers and to combat black spot virus. I tend to leave it until the flowers are just starting to unfurl in early to mid January. By this time the previous years foliage is starting to die back in favour of the new so it also makes sense to me to remove them because they would only end up looking messy as well. I should say that this is mainly on the orientalis hybrids and I specifically leave any younger plants/seedlings intact as I want to ensure they have a decent root system in place. Cutting the foliage off these would weaken them over time. I think it’s a personal choice at the end of the day but if there’s a small chance it controls black spot then I’ll take it. After all, you can live with a headache but you can live better if you take a paracetamol.
Ah, some would say the less paracetamol the better, but of course, you are being much more sensible than I.