Plant Library

Other Names:  HGC Love Bug Hellebore, Lenten Rose, Winter Rose

Group/Class:  Gold Collection Series

Description:

This attractive variety produces bushy mounds of evergreen leaves; reddish flower stems with rose buds that produce white blooms with a blush of shell pink, and luminous chartreuse centers; an outstanding selection for shade gardens

Ornamental Features

Love Bug Hellebore features showy nodding creamy white cup-shaped flowers with chartreuse eyes and shell pink streaks at the ends of the stems from late winter to early spring, which emerge from distinctive rose flower buds. Its glossy oval compound leaves remain bluish-green in color throughout the year.

Landscape Attributes

Love Bug Hellebore is an herbaceous evergreen perennial with an upright spreading habit of growth. Its medium texture blends into the garden, but can always be balanced by a couple of finer or coarser plants for an effective composition.

This is a relatively low maintenance plant, and should be cut back in late fall in preparation for winter. Deer don't particularly care for this plant and will usually leave it alone in favor of tastier treats. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Love Bug Hellebore is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• Rock/Alpine Gardens
• Border Edging
• General Garden Use
• Naturalizing And Woodland Gardens

Planting & Growing

Love Bug Hellebore will grow to be about 10 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 15 inches. When grown in masses or used as a bedding plant, individual plants should be spaced approximately 12 inches apart. Its foliage tends to remain low and dense right to the ground. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 5 years. As an evegreen perennial, this plant will typically keep its form and foliage year-round.

This plant does best in partial shade to shade. It does best in average to evenly moist conditions, but will not tolerate standing water. It is not particular as to soil pH, but grows best in rich soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution, and will benefit from being planted in a relatively sheltered location. This particular variety is an interspecific hybrid, and parts of it are known to be toxic to humans and animals, so care should be exercised in planting it around children and pets. It can be propagated by division; however, as a cultivated variety, be aware that it may be subject to certain restrictions or prohibitions on propagation.