It is difficult to find plants that look pretty in winter, but not impossible. There are several vegetables that maintain their green color and even their flowers during the coldest season of the year, such as Hellebore. So that you can enjoy its beautiful colors, we are going to explain how to take care of a Hellebore or Christmas rose.
So that you can better understand this plant, first we are going to explain what the Christmas rose is and when it blooms. Then we will discuss the care it requires so that we can grow it in our home.
Before explaining how to care for a Hellebore or Christmas rose, we are going to explain what this plant is. Also commonly known as Helboro, this genus of herbaceous plant belongs to the family Ranunculaceae and it is native to mountainous regions of southern Europe and the Middle East. There are about twenty species belonging to this genus. The best known are the following: Stinky Helleborus y Green helleborus.
These rhizomatous herbaceous plants have a tussock bearing and they can reach 35 centimeters tall. Its leaves are pedado-split and have leaflets with a toothed margin. As for the flowers, they are usually hanging and appear at the end of the erect stems.
This pretty flower is called the Christmas rose for quite a logical reason: Its flowers stay alive and colorful during the coldest season of the year, winter. We can find this vegetable in many different colors, the most common being purple, white, pink, pale yellow and black. Thanks to this wide variety of different tones that this plant offers us, Christmas roses are one of the most popular vegetables during winter. Not surprisingly, its pretty looks and vivid colors will make anyone’s eyes happy, especially at a time when most plants look sad and dull.
Christmas roses are usually used to decorate both the garden and terraces, balconies or interiors. They are suitable to be grown in the ground or in pots, making them ideal for any home. But we must be careful, because the ingestion of these beautiful vegetables can cause us problems, since they are poisonous. So you have to pay special attention that they are out of the reach of children and pets.
Unlike most flowering plants, the Hellebore does not bloom in spring. The Christmas rose offers beautiful, large flowers with a magnificent crown of stamens from November to March. This flowering show that occurs during the coldest time of the year is worth seeing and will never tire us. In winter, when all the vegetables are dying, the Christmas rose does its best and brightens everyone’s eyes. However, some of the species belonging to the genus Hellebore they bloom a little later, in late winter and early spring.
How to care for a Helleborus?
Now that we know what these plants are, we are going to explain how to care for a Hellebore or Christmas rose. As we can imagine due to its flowering time, it is a very cold resistant plant. You could even say that it is almost immune to frost and snow. Of course, it can lean a bit when temperatures are very extreme. However, as soon as they recover a bit, the plant straightens right away.
Nonetheless, it is best to place the Christmas rose in a sheltered and sunny place outside. This way we make sure that it generates a lot of flowers. If, on the contrary, we leave it in a place with a lot of shade, it will end up producing fewer flowers and we don’t want that, right?
As for the soil, this can be a combination of garden soil a third of peat with a lot of humus. Also, the Christmas rose requires to be paid every fifteen days during flowering if we want its pretty flowers to be abundant and long. It is best to use mineral fertilizer for this task.
It is also important to consider watering. This must be frequent, since the Christmas rose needs that the substrate in which it is found is always humid. But we must be careful not to flood the earth. It is best to do it when we see that the leaves begin to be a little down. In a matter of hours, the plant makes a full recovery. Yes, yesIf it is too cold, it is best not to water it. In addition, it is advisable to prune withered leaves.
I hope this information has been useful for you to grow your own Christmas roses. They will give a very special touch to your home in winter!
