Helleborus hybridus Black Chocolate

Oriental Hellebore Black Chocolate is a very dark variety with a mysterious charm. It produces cup-shaped flowers in a rich, very dark brown, almost black, contrasting well with a light stamen centre. Its foliage can also take surprising, very dark, purplish shades. This robust and very hardy perennial can be grown in borders, under shrubs and in pots. Easy to grow, even in heavy soil, it thrives in shade or non-scorching sun.

Native to Greece, Turkey, and the centre and east of the Caucasus, Oriental Helleborus, sometimes called Lenten Rose, is a perennial plant of the buttercup family that hybridizes very easily with other species to produce many hybrids with a wide variety of colours and shapes. No variety names are given to these hybrids;  they are distinguished by their shape and colour. Oriental Hellebore is a hardy plant that can withstand temperatures as low as -15°C (5°F), naturally growing in forests, thickets, and clearings up to 2,000 m (2,187 yards) altitude. Black Chocolate forms a compact, leafy clump 40 cm (16in) in all directions. It consists of evergreen, palmate, slightly toothed, dark green and shiny basal leaves, 30 to 40 cm (12 to 16in) long, composed of 7 to 9 leaflets. They actually only live for 8 months and are regularly replaced by new leaves.

Between February and April, a bouquet of simple flowers with a diameter of 4 to 5 cm (2in) is formed. These are simple, cup-shaped flowers, with a characteristic collar of petals in the centre, resting on a corolla of petals. They are inclined downwards, allowing water to slide off like an umbrella to protect the heart of the flower from rotting. Hellebore is a bushy plant that does not like to be moved once established, as young plants take some time to flower. The seeds are sown by ants.

Use hellebores as elements of an ancient tapestry, mixing them with brightly coloured understory plants. They are complemented when planted near Pieris, small-sized rhododendrons, under conifers (especially on wind-exposed sites), and surrounded by primroses, wood anemones, corydalis, dicentras, cardamines, or spring-flowering bulbs and snowdrops. You can also accompany them with ferns and shade 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 location, to fully enjoy their early flowering. They are suitable as cut flowers and in borders, edges, or even containers... Over time, Hellebore flowers do not fade like the majority of other flowers but dry up.

Each seed-sown Hellebore has a unique flower colour: slight variations in colour may exist between two plants, which is normal and inevitable. However, if the difference is too significant and distorts the desired effect, we will refund, or replace the plant in question.