Helleborus HGC Ice N Roses Picotee

Hellebore HGC Ice N' Roses Picotee is the latest addition to the excellent series of Ice N' Roses hellebores. This particularly robust hybrid combines all the qualities of its ancestors, including Mediterranean hellebores (from Corsica and the Balearic Islands), Christmas rose (H. niger), and Lenten rose (H. orientalis). The result is a plant that is very resistant to cold, heat, and soils which are dry in summer, with a very long flowering period of beautifully coloured large flowers between December and April. This Picotee variety produces a quantity of large white-pink flowers striped and speckled with a deeper shade of pink. This hellebore will live for many years in the garden, in all climates.

Hellebores belong to the buttercup family. Helleborus Ice N' Roses is a complex horticultural hybrid from a series of Christmas roses developed in Germany after many years of research and selective breeding. The flowers of Ice N' Roses hellebores come in 4 colours: red, pink, white, and white-pink with rose picotee.

Ice N' Roses Picotee is a strong perennial plant with remarkable longevity, fairly rapid growth, and vigorous vegetation, but it is sterile. Reproduction is difficult and only possible through division. It has a bushy habit, reaching a minimum height of 30cm (12in) and a spread of 50cm (20in) when mature. From December to March-April, short brownish stems appear carrying pink buds that open into 5-petaled white and rose-purple flowers, 6-7cm (2-3in) wide, with beautiful yellow stamens in their centre. The evergreen foliage is composed of rather tough, satin dark green leaves, 10 to 30cm (4 to 12in) long, borne on brownish petioles, divided into 5 to 7 oval or lanceolate segments with strong toothed edges. This Hellebore is hardy down to -20°C (-4°F) and tolerates a wide range of soils, limestone or clayey, humiferous or sandy, constantly moist or even dry in summer.

This new hellebore should thrive in all our gardens. It has many flowers even in its first year. New flowers constantly form, creating a beautiful contrast between the open flowers and the faded ones. These flowers make good cut flowers. It is also a good ground cover for shaded areas. Use hellebores like elements of an old tapestry, mixing them with brightly coloured woodland plants. They are showcased when planted near medium-sized evergreen bushes and under conifers (especially on windy sites). Surround them with primroses, wood anemones, corydalis, bleeding hearts, cardamines, or spring-flowering bulbs and snowdrops. You can also plant them with ferns and shade-loving irises to create a beautiful contrast a little later in the season. They can be planted in groups near the entrance of the house, in a shaded position, to enjoy their early flowering up close. They are suitable for borders, flower beds, and containers... Over time, the flowers of the Hellebore do not wilt like the majority of other flowers but dry up instead.