Spirit of Place by Bill Noble

Author:Bill Noble [Noble, Bill]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Published: 2020-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

Christmas rose blooms among low-growing willows on the mossy bank beneath Syringa vulgaris ‘President Lincoln’.

The soil beneath the lilac does not wish to support anything much more than mosses and the native lady ferns that have put themselves there. The southern and western sunny sides are treated the same as under the spruce—they are weeded to keep the grass out, but self-sowers from garden plants are allowed—a few European gingers, as well as a smattering of hellebores and cyclamen.

The north, shady side under the lilac is treated more intentionally. There is a swath of hellebores that have taken to these conditions. Nancy Goodwin of Montrose, a historic garden in North Carolina, encouraged me to experiment with hellebores, starting with the hardy Christmas rose (Helleborus niger), native to mountainous regions of Italy and central Europe. Her recommendation came shortly before a trip to the Ligurian Coast south of Genoa, where, on a hike on a cold December day, we came across masses of Christmas roses in bloom. Nancy’s display at Montrose is almost as impressive, and maybe more so, because she brought together a few different strains of the plant to compare and contrast under the shade of a dawn redwood.

I started with a few plants of the straight species Helleborus niger, and as I came across other strains I added to the collection, especially early-blooming H. niger ‘Praecox’, H. niger ‘Potter’s Wheel’, and H. niger. ssp. macranthus, which I purchased from Plant Delights Nursery, also in North Carolina. The last is a bit taller than the others, with larger flowers and darker green foliage. There has never been any question about the hardiness or vigor of H. niger—the half-dozen plants I began with have flowered, produced seeds, and increased in number. Some years, especially during a mild December, there can be a fair display of their cup-shaped white flowers before Christmas, blooming through the snow. Other years they make a more extravagant showing as soon as the snow recedes and days warm up, often keeping it up into the later part of May.

As much as I’m grateful for what can be the first substantial display of flowers in spring, it is these plants’ leathery, dark green foliage that holds my interest. It needs minding in fall to remove fallen leaves, and in spring, pruning to remove blackened foliage, but that’s a small price to pay for a handsome clump of plants that stays healthy and robust all season long. I’ve combined them with a delicate, low-growing willow, Salix brachycarpa, to complement and contrast the foliage of two plants that prosper in similar conditions.

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