It’s winter, but there’s gardening to be done, including transplanting that hellebore
The latter part of January is when you actually notice the days growing longer, so start to look for signs of spring.
Tree buds should be swelling, crocus and snowdrops emerging from the ground and herds of hellebores happily heralding in a new garden season. If outdoor spring flowers elude you, then leaf through a seed catalog or garden book or visit a garden show to heat up spring fever.
I’ll be speaking every day at the Tacoma Home and Garden Show (and also giving away tickets to the Northwest Flower and Garden Show), so visit at 2 p.m. Thursday–Sunday or attend a 1 p.m. talk Saturday to learn about Houseplants and Four Seasons of Color.
Here are the most asked questions about plants that help with four seasons of color:
Q. I was given a hellebore plant for Christmas wrapped in red foil and full of white blooms. Now this potted plant has stopped blooming and does not look so great. I know it can be planted outdoors, but when is the best time to do the transplant and how much sun does it need? — H.P. Tacoma
A. Hellebores are hardy perennials and can be added to the landscape even in winter as long as the ground is not frozen — but first consider that your hellebore might need to adjust to the cold after spending a month indoors.
I hope you did not leave the red plastic foil around the container as this might have trapped drainage water and be adding to the plants indoor misery. Transition the potted hellebore outdoors on a protected porch or patio for a week at least. Move it inside at night if a freeze is expected. Once the plant is hardened you can find a spot with afternoon shade and dig in. The secret to success with hellebores is digging a hole three times as wide and at least one foot deep filled with lose, rich soil.
The fleshy hellebore roots break easily so ease them from the container gently by soaking with water overnight. Those same roots spread out quickly in loose soil, making the hellebore a drought-resistant plant that flowers in the shade with little care and does not need dividing as it matures like so many other perennials.
Q. I love snowdrop bulbs because they flower so early in the year just when I most need winter blooms. I would like to know some tips for dividing or transplanting this flower. I have tried and failed to transplant the tiny bulbs in the fall when I move my daffodils. — S.M., Sumner
A. Snowdrops, or Galanthus, are rebels of the spring-blooming bulbs, insisting on flowering even if snow is on the ground, and, as you have found out, refusing to be moved in the fall when most bulbs are dormant and ready to be transplanted.
Instead shade-tolerant snowdrops with their dangling white blooms prefer to be thinned or transplanted in February just as they are finished blooming. I also have had good luck moving snowdrops around the landscape on mild days in January when the little bulbs are in full bloom.
Tip: I dig my snowdrop bulbs from the ground when they are in bud, set small clumps inside a teacup or small pot and enjoy them indoors for a week or so. A bit of damp moss keeps the roots moist while they add some indoor winter color. Then I dig a new home for the bulbs and their fading blooms outside under shade trees and rhododendrons. After 30 some years, my garden is full of snowdrop colonies popping up when color is most appreciated at the end of winter.
Q. When is the best time to prune forsythia? We have a giant shrub that I love every February when it is in full bloom, but it is starting to crowd the other shrubs, and my husband is threatening to take a chainsaw to it. Do I let him? — G.H., Enumclaw
A. Stop in the name of the saw!
Chainsaws and forsythias are not a good match. Instead use hand pruners or loppers to thin out the oldest and thickest canes or stems to encourage the healthy young shoots and get rid of the oldest and largest branches. The time to prune most flowering shrubs is right after they bloom, so wait until mid-March to do any heavy forsythia pruning so you don’t miss the flower display this spring.
Tip: You can prune bare and leafless forsythia branches now to bring indoors. Just place the cut ends of the whips or bare branches in a tall vase, and golden, sunshine-hued blooms will appear in a few days. Forcing winter dormant branches into early bloom is a colorful way to fool Mother Nature into thinking spring has arrived.
Learn from Marianne
The Tacoma Home and Garden Show runs Jan. 23–26 at the Tacoma Dome. Marianne will speak every day at 2 p.m. except for Saturday when the talk is at 1 p.m. Topics are “Healthy Houseplants Healthy Home: How to grow houseplants in any room, including sedums, orchids and African Violets” and “Four Season of Color: Creating the year round Landscape.” For discount tickets and more information, go to www.tacomahomeandgardenshow.com.
This story was originally published January 11, 2020 at 10:00 AM.