Helleborus hybridus ViV Diana

Helleborus x hybridus Viv Diana pays a beautiful tribute to the eponymous princess with its tender colour and large, fully open corollas. They range from pale pink to a warmer shade when affected by the cold. This charming variety stands out from all others with its resplendent flowering. It is a robust and very hardy perennial that can be grown in borders, under shrubs and in pots. Easy to grow in all regions, even in heavy and limestone soil, it will thrive in shade or non-scorching sun. Its flowers are irreplaceable in winter bouquets. 

The ViV Hellebores are varieties resulting from in-vitro multiplication. Unlike varieties resulting from seed multiplication, hellebores produced by in-vitro guarantee a flowering that is rigorously identical to the variety from which they originate. They therefore have the same genetic characteristics as the mother plant, are more vigorous and develop in a standard manner.

Hellebore ViV Diana belongs to the Ranunculaceae family, which includes around sixty genera and about 2500 species. The species Helleborus orientalis is native to Greece, Turkey, and the central and eastern Caucasus. It is a perennial plant that hybridizes very easily with other species to produce hybrids with very varied colours and forms. The Oriental Hellebore is a hardy plant that tolerates temperatures as low as -15 °C, naturally growing in forests, thickets, and clearings up to an altitude of 2,000 m.

The ViV Diana variety forms a clump that is 35 to 40 cm (14 to 16in) tall and 40 cm (16in) wide of palmate, evergreen, slightly toothed, dark green and shiny basal leaves which actually only live for 8 months and are regularly replaced by new leaves.
'Diana' starts flowering earlier or later depending on the year and the climate, from November onwards. This selection blooms for long weeks throughout the winter. Its single flowers are made up of 5 well-opened, pale pink, false petals highlighted by the aniseed green heart from which the stamens emerge. The flowers rise distinctly above the foliage, inclined towards the ground or arranged horizontally. Hellebore does not like to be moved once established, with young plants sometimes taking time to flower. Choose their location carefully. 

Use hellebores as elements of an ancient tapestry, mixing them with shade perennials in brighter colours. They are highlighted when planted near Pieris, small-sized rhododendrons or under conifers (especially in windy sites). Surround them with primroses, wood anemones, Corydalis and Dicentras, or spring-flowering bulbs, and snowdrops. You can also accompany them with shade iris to create a beautiful contrast a little later in the season. They are suitable as cut flowers and in beds, borders, or containers. Over time, Hellebore flowers do not fade like the majority of other flowers but dry beautifully instead.