6 Double-flowered Hellebores

Helleborus orientalis ‘Double Red’

‘Double Red’ is a small wonder of hellebore featuring a lovely rosette of deep purplish-red petals. It blooms for many weeks in the heart of winter, providing a very refined presence in a woodland bed, along a border, or in a container. Its dark green foliage is evergreen, and its small size (about 30 cm in spread) allows for planting in threes, for example, to create a beautiful pink mass in fresh, well-drained soil.

You can easily pair it, as this rich hue harmonises with a wide palette of pinks, purples, whites, or greens. For instance, combine it in a lovely pot with a skimmia with purplish-pink flowers and a marbled white heuchera like ‘Mint Frost’ or ‘Green Spice’.

Oriental hellebore ‘Double Red’. On the right: Heuchera ‘Green Spice’, Skimmia ‘Rubella’, and pink heather

Helleborus torquatus ‘Party Dress Hybriden’

Here is a rather understated double-flowered hellebore, which primarily attracts attention with the colour of its absolutely stunning petals. Helleborus torquatus ‘Party Dress Hybriden’ features an evolving inflorescence with flowers in subtle green hues washed with pink around the edges, which can turn to dark pink. Its slender foliage is also superb. Remaining compact in size, this double-flowered hellebore can be paired with all wild-looking green hellebores, such as Helleborus x sternii, or a Corsican hellebore to create a beautiful mass of hellebores in the garden.

Helleborus torquatus ‘Party Dress Hybriden’, alongside an argutifolius hellebore and the nigercors hellebore ‘Candy Love’

Helleborus orientalis ‘Double White with Red Edge’

Classic for its light colour, and unique for the grace of its perfectly inserted double petals forming a corolla around the yellow-green stamens, the Helleborus orientale ‘Double White with Red Edge’ is a small gem of elegance. Its cream-white petals are characterised by a fine red edge, adding to its rarity. In a romantic garden, it will be wonderful, its pastel tones harmonising with all shades from cream to pink. Like its counterparts, this very elegant hellebore thrives in shade or partial shade, and succeeds everywhere due to its hardiness.

Provide it with a very soft setting of equally refined plants that bloom at the same time to highlight it: Galanthus nivalis ‘Dionysus’ and Crocus chrysanthus ‘Prinz Claus’. A wild Camellia in pink will echo its inflorescence, while a magnolia stellata will accompany its end of flowering.

Oriental Double Hellebore with Red Edge. On the right, a Magnolia stellata, an oriental hellebore ‘Double Picotee’ and snowdrops

Helleborus orientalis 'Double Picotee'

Among the original variegated hellebores, this cultivar is sure to catch your eye. Firstly, the stunning and ultra-romantic shade of ‘Double Picotee’ is brought to life by its cream petals veined with pink: simply sumptuous… The petals are also finely edged with a deep pink trim that stands out beautifully, even though the flowers are trailing. The shape of the inflorescence is also captivating: halfway between a double hellebore and an anemone-flowered type, ‘Double Picotee’ features a corolla of slightly smaller double flowers inside, frilly and truly original. 

You can plant it alongside a carpet of hellebores if you are collecting them, or enhance its beauty by pairing it with a delicately pink camellia, violet crocuses, and purple heucheras.

Oriental hellebore ‘Double Picotee’. On the right, the wild camellia ‘Sweet Jane’, tomassinianus crocuses, and a purple heuchera

Helleborus orientalis 'Double White'

With stunning elegance, the Oriental Hellebore ‘Double White’ will delight all lovers of classicism and white flowers. Its double petals give this oriental hellebore a very beautiful inflorescence, almost timeless, shaded with yellow-green at its centre by the stamens. It is absolutely charming and delightful in a romantic, classic garden, or in a monochrome garden. Taking its time to settle in like its counterparts, it will form a very beautiful base of virginal flowering in the shade garden.

Planted in a pot, it creates a lovely display that you might choose to keep simple, with ivy and heather, for example. In the garden, it instantly brightens a dim flowerbed with its long winter flowering, alongside the sculptural foliage of a Fatsia japonica, the softness of white heather, and wild hellebores.

Oriental Hellebore ‘Double White’, in a simple display: Fatsia, Erica darleyensis, and Helleborus argutifolius

Helleborus orientalis 'Double Green Guttatus'

The oriental hellebore ‘Double Spotted Green’, often referred to by its French name ‘Double vert guttatus’, is a botanical curiosity for those who appreciate whimsy: the pistachio green colour is adorned with small purple spots at the centre of the petals. The flower shape is perfect, a circle formed of three layers of petals that are very original with their bicoloured notes. The flowers appear in the garden at the end of January and last until around April, depending on the region. This hellebore is therefore a striking specimen to showcase, either in pots on a balcony or terrace for close observation of its flowers, or in a border in the garden to enjoy its extraordinary originality.

‘Double Spotted Green’ pairs beautifully with purple hues and anise greens, as well as vibrant or deep pinks. Avoid overly busy combinations to give this truly unique cultivar a beautiful visibility. Opt for evergreen groundcovers like Farfugium or light colours to enhance it. A snake’s head fritillary can even come to tease it at the end of winter with its spots echoing those of the hellebore.

Oriental hellebore ‘Double Spotted Green’. On the right, the oriental hellebore ‘Red’, a carpet of Farfugiums, and some snake’s head fritillaries.