Christmas roses bloom when everything else is dormant under a layer of snow. We provide tips for the perfect location for your Christmas roses in the garden.
The Christmas rose (Helleborus niger), also known as black hellebore, is one of the most robust garden plants. The Austrian name "Schneerose" indicates that this plant can cope very well with difficult conditions. This is unusual, because the Christmas rose originally comes from Southeast Asia. Today, however, it grows wild in German-speaking countries as well as in Slovenia, Croatia and northern Italy, where it inhabits bushy, light forests. You can easily imitate these natural site conditions in your own garden so that your Christmas rose thrives and doesn't lack anything.
In the following we explain what you should consider when choosing a location for your Christmas rose and how best to proceed with planting.
The perfect location for Christmas roses
It is fundamentally important that your Christmas rose has enough space in the garden to develop undisturbed. Because when they feel good, Christmas roses like to spread out into large groups of plants. Half-shady to shady locations with a nutrient-rich, well-drained humus soil are ideal for Christmas roses. They also prefer calcareous soils. If the pH is too low, flowering may not occur.
Protected places in partial shade under trees are ideal. In this way, the plant can enjoy the gentle rays of the winter sun during the cold winter months, but is protected from excessive heat in summer. Make sure that the soil does not dry out and water regularly, even in winter. It is essential to avoid waterlogging. Given the right conditions, Christmas roses are extremely long-lived and can live up to 30 years.
If you have been given a Christmas rose as a potted plant and would like to cultivate it indoors, it is best to place it in a bright spotplace on the windowsill. However, the optimal average temperature should not be above 15 °C, because the Christmas rose does not usually feel comfortable in a heated living room. After flowering, you can move the potted plant to a shady spot in the garden.
Procedure for planting Christmas roses
Once you have chosen the right location for your Christmas rose, you should plant the newly purchased plant at its destination as soon as possible. The best time to plant Christmas roses in the bed is in autumn from September to November. Alternatively, it can also be planted after flowering in late spring (April/May). Below we have prepared a step-by-step guide with the most important points for you:
- Soak the root ball in a bucket of water
- Dig a planting hole twice as large
- Loosen the soil and enrich it with mature compost
- Plant the Christmas rose up to the root neck
- Press the earth lightly with your hands
- Water well so that the soil can settle
- Apply mulch layer of compost or leaves
Tip from the professional: To avoid skin irritation from escaping plant sap, you should definitely wear gloves when planting Christmas roses.
For more information on planting, caring for and propagating Christmas roses, read our comprehensive review article.