Plant
of the Month
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February 2005
Helleborus
vesicarius
by Carmel Duignan
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Helleborus vesicarius
© Carmel Duignan
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Helleborus vesicarius is native to southern
Turkey and northern Syria and, like many other plants
from these areas of hot, dry summers, it is summer-dormant.
The shiny, dissected leaves that clearly show their
membership of the buttercup family start to emerge in
November. The flowers open in January and are very similar
to those of H. foetidus - green tubes with a
band of dark red at the tip of each petal/tepal/sepal.
H.vesicarius is unique in the hellebore family
in that seeds are borne in inflated pods. These pods
break off when ripe and are blown around the garden
by the wind. In cultivation, we are advised to treat
this plant as we would a Mediterranean bulb - to allow
it to dry off when the leaves disappear around June
and to protect it from summer rain.
My plant is over eight years old and, until this winter
(2004/2005), had never flowered. It struggled into life
each November; displayed its characteristic fleshy,
buttercup leaves; and disappeared without trace every
June. It never seemed to thrive and I suspected that
our cool, wet summers did not suit its requirements.
Nonetheless, I left it to its own devices growing on
the top of a scree bed that is very well drained and
is open to all the elements. I never protected it from
our plentiful summer rain and, because our winters here
on the east coast of Ireland are very mild (and wet!),
it did not suffer frost damage. In any case, I had more
or less given up on my plant ever producing a flower!
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Helleborus vesicarius
© Carmel Duignan
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On Christmas Day I always do a tour of my garden to
gather a small posy of winter flowers for the table.
Last year, to my great surprise, I noticed some flowers
well hidden by the leaves on my H. vesicarius.
Shortly afterwards, disaster nearly struck when a very
high wind from the north-west (not our prevailing wind)
took away more than half the plant. However, the surviving
stems and flowers still look good and, as I write in
mid-February, 2005, seeds seem to be forming. I will
watch them carefully, sow them as soon as they ripen
and hope they germinate. I understand that seedlings
of this unusual hellebore are also strange in that in
the first year they produce only seed leaves. After
a resting period, the true leaves appear and they can
then be potted on.
I look forward to a new generation of H. vesicarius!
Visit our special
Hellebore feature to find out more about this much loved
group of plants in the family Ranunculaceae.
Contributor
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Carmel
Duignan, gardening writer, lecturer
and former television producer, is an expert
plantswoman and a committed gardener. Her
garden in the outer suburbs of Dublin, Ireland
is close to the sea and enjoys a temperate
climate that allows her to experiment with
growing tender and unusual plants. She is,
at present, editor of the Ranunculaceae
Newsletter.
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Photo Credits
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All photos courtesy of Carmel Duignan.
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