How To Condition & Create With Hellebores

Hellebores are stunning winter blooms which come in a variety of rich colours and elegant whites. They can be tricky to work with, as they can wilt very quickly without proper conditioning. One way to avoid this, is to only harvest your stems once the seed box has formed. If you want to cut them sooner, here are a few tips to help promote their longevity.

Before the seed box forms

With a formed seed box

How To Condition:

Harvest early in the morning, and place immediately into fresh water. Once inside, strip all the leaves (except those which are pleasing to the eye). Using a sharp knife, score two lengths up the stem front and back. Re-cut the base of the stem and plunge again into deep fresh water.

If they wilt after the above process, it may also be necessary to sear their freshly cut stems in boiling water for a few seconds. This will help disperse any trapped air bubbles which reduce water intake. You could also try fully immersing the whole flower and its stem in a bowl of water.

Design Suggestions:

Hellebores work beautifully with other flowers for winter event and bridal work. However, their elegant luxury lends itself well to simply displaying grouped together in a vintage jug or glass apothecary jar, or perhaps combined with some Snakes Head Fritillaries.

Drying Hellebores:

I recently had great success drying some Dutch grown Hellebores in January, which were leftover from an event. I hung them upside down from a drying rack in my warm and light utility room for three weeks. They dried beautifully, and are now ready to arrange and enjoy.