5 remarkable Christmas roses

The pure white of the famous Hellebore niger

Helleborus niger or black hellebore is considered the true Christmas rose. Hardy and cold-resistant, black hellebore adapts to any soils and reaches 30 cm in height at ripeness with a 45 cm spread. It consists of green leaves, divided into 5 or 7 lanceolate, broad and dentate leaflets. Its brownish stems bear 1 to 3 single flowers, cup-shaped, slightly nodding, immaculately white, with a heart of yellow stamens.

Helleborus niger

Rose-red with chocolate highlights of Hellebore ‘Ice n'Roses Red’

Introduced to the market in 2017, Hellebore ‘Ice n’Roses Red’ is a hybrid Christmas rose, which brings together the qualities of its ancestors – Helleborus niger, Helleborus orientalis and Mediterranean hellebores originating from Corsica and the Balearic Islands. Developed in Germany, it is also declinate in pink and white.

Cold-hardy, this perennial reaches 30 cm at ripeness with a 50 cm spread. It offers up to 15 stems per plant, each producing several flowers in exceptional colours, a purplish-pink with brown highlights. All enhanced by attractive dentate, dark and leathery foliage. With rapid growth, vigorous foliage, a bushy habit and a long lifespan, it is sterile and cannot be easily propagated.

Hellebore ‘Ice n’Roses Red’

Pink veined with white hellebore 'Madame Lemonnier'

Developed in France, by Martine and Lucie Lemonnier (whose name it retains), Hellebore ‘Madame Lemonnier’ is a hybrid plant, born from the Christmas rose (Helleborus Niger) and the Lenten rose (Helleborus orientalis). Its distinctive feature is a flowering period of five months, from autumn to spring.

Robust and evergreen, this perennial reaches 30 cm at ripeness with a spread of 50 cm. Its glossy dark green foliage is composed of basal leaves that are palmate, slightly dentate, 30 to 40 cm long, with 7 to 9 leaflets. Held proudly above, its flowers appear between November and April. They consist of five rounded petals, measuring more than 15 cm in diameter. Their colour varies with temperature, ranging from white-veined pink to dark purple, with yellow stamens.

Hellebore ‘Madame Lemonnier’

Double immaculate white flower of hellebore niger 'Double Fashion'

Very original variety, Hellebore niger ‘Double Fashion’ is a Christmas rose that displays beautiful double flowers. In other words, flowers formed with several ranks of petals – a feature highly sought after by enthusiasts of atypical perennial plants.

At ripeness, this species reaches 40 cm in height, with a spread of 45 cm. Its foliage comprises leaves with 5 to 7 coriaceous, lanceolate and dentate leaflets. At the tips of its purple-maculate stems sit 1 to 3 flowers 8 cm in diameter, pure white, with 5 outer petals and several inner ranks surrounding a heart of yellow stamens. They appear between December and February depending on region.

Hellebore niger ‘Double Fashion’

Five-month flowering for hellebore 'Walberton's Rosemary'

Hellebore ‘Walberton’s Rosemary’ has everything to please! Born from a cross between a Christmas rose and an oriental hellebore, this recent hybrid combines best qualities of its parents: an incredible, long flowering period of almost five months, from autumn to spring; star-shaped flowers that are first pink veined with white then salmon-coloured before turning green as they fade. They are true little gems to include in winter bouquets.

It forms a clump 30 cm high and 50 cm wide. This robust and very hardy perennial is ideal for borders or flower beds, alongside bushes with winter flowering or grown in a pot.