Helleborus 'Candy Love'

Helleborus 'Candy Love' is an evergreen perennial offering year-round interest, except in extremely cold locations. Incredibly floriferous and long-lasting, Helleborus 'Candy Love' flowers heavily for weeks, from late winter to late spring. The large, 3- to 4-inch, saucer-shaped flowers open pale creamy apricot, gradually darken to blush pink, and mature to dusty purple tinged pink and red. Borne in multicolored clusters on purple stems, the outward facing flowers, unusual for a hellebore, make adorable kitchen table bouquets or lovely additions to cut arrangements.

This vigorous herbaceous plant, also known as a Lenten rose or hellebore, has a tidy, low, mounding habit and a fast growth rate. The bushy foliage is leathery and dark powdery gray green.

Easy to grow, Helleborus 'Candy Love' prefers full to dappled shade and rich, humusy, neutral to alkaline, moist, well-drained soil. It is very tolerant of a wide range of soils, including chalk, clay, and loam, and growing conditions but will not tolerate extremely dry or waterlogged soils. It is disease and deer resistant.

For best effect, consider planting in groups in beds, borders, patio containers, or under a high-branched deciduous tree or large shrub, protected from strong winter winds. The plant makes a lovely groundcover and slowly expands via rhizomatous roots, but will not become invasive, and self-seeds in ideal growing conditions.