Will my lost hellebores reappear in my spring garden?

I planted some hellebores in my garden last year after reading that they were evergreen and easy to grow. But they seem to have disappeared. Is there any chance that they’ll re-emerge above ground again when spring arrives? DK, Galway

Hellebores have long been prized by gardeners for their very beautiful, long-lasting, saucer-shaped flowers, which emerge from February right through until April depending on the variety as well as weather conditions. Many but not all are evergreen hardy perennials, and many but not all are easy to grow. Of those best suited to growing in an Irish garden, the most garden-worthy is what’s commonly known as the Lenten rose, Oriental hellebore or Helleborus x hybridus (often incorrectly labelled in garden centres as Helleborus orientalis), a hybrid species with a complex ancestry.

Available in a wide range of colours, including shades of pink, plum, cream, green, slate-grey and primrose-yellow, its pollen-rich flowers range from single to multi-petalled doubles, some freckled, some picotee. A fantastic choice for a damp but free-draining, humus-rich soil and a cool spot in full sun or dappled shade, the Lenten rose loves the Irish climate and is generally very long-lived, long-flowering and exceptionally hardy.

It associates really well with most spring-flowering bulbs as well as other early-flowering perennials such as brunnera, pulmonaria, aquilegia and dicentra, and spring-flowering shrubs such as witch-hazel, daphne and magnolia. Specialist Irish nurseries such as Mount Venus Nursery in Dublin and Altamont Plants in Co Carlow carry a very good range at this time of year.

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Despite its reputation for being reliably evergreen, this isn’t actually true of all Lenten roses due to their complex parentage. Instead some varieties behave more like herbaceous perennials, especially in an unusually cold winter, which may the case with yours. If so, then look for the crown of the plants, which will be just above soil level (these should feel firm and have visible green buds) from which new growth will appear in spring.

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It’s worth pointing out that even the foliage of evergreen varieties should be cut back hard to ground level at this time of year to encourage healthy growth and prevent the risk of the disfiguring fungal disease known as hellebore leaf spot.

Much trickier is the more compact, earlier-flowering species known as Helleborus niger or the Christmas hellebore. Although widely seen for sale in garden centres in winter, it’s a fussy, demanding species that’s rarely long-lived in Irish gardens (or at least not in my experience) and is prone to succumbing quickly to disease. Shelter from cold or drying winds, a damp but very free-draining, humus-rich, neutral-alkaline soil and an annual autumn top dressing with home-made garden compost are all essential. It is less attractive than its later-flowering Lenten cousin and has short-stemmed, downturned white flowers.

If this is the species you bought, then I’m sorry to say that there’s a pretty good chance your plants have given up the ghost. But replace them with Lenten hellebores and it should be a very different story.