Plant these ‘winter roses’ for colour blast

These small perennials prefer cold winters and thrive under deciduous trees giving your garden a colourful edge all year round.

Position prized specimens next to a path or at the front of a garden bed where they can be admired.

Hellebores, also known as winter roses, are valued for their long flowering period over winter and spring. They’re an ideal small perennial to grow under deciduous trees, as they star when the trees are bare, cope well with root competition and thrive with winter sun and summer dappled shade. Preferring cold winters, they’re best in cool and temperate regions; they grow adequately in Sydney but are not for the humid tropics. The most commonly grown are varieties of Helleborus x hybridus, which offer clusters of flowers ranging from white to blackish purples, through shades of rose, plum, crimson, slate, lime green, peach and yellow. Many are patterned inside with spots and speckles, or have petals edged with a contrasting colour, or are doubles. As the flowers age they slowly become green. The texture provided by their deeply divided, robust leaves is just as valuable. Mass plantings have the most impact in larger gardens; they self-seed quite readily to increase in numbers. Position prized specimens next to a path or at the front of a garden bed where they can be admired, or grow them in pots. Hellebores can be poisonous if consumed, though they’re rarely eaten by animals.

Hellebores

The Diggers Club sells a range of hellebores online (including the four below), as well as a huge range of heirloom vegetables, flowers, fruits, herbs and trees.

Hellebore 'Double Primrose Picotee'.

Hellebore 'Slate Spotted'.

Their 2024/25 Seed Annual is out now: diggers.com.au

Hellebore 'Double White Painted'.

Hellebore 'Apricot Peach Spotted'.

Q&A

The stems on my roses have gone white with a hard, powdery stuff that won’t come off. Is there a spray?

Clive Bond, Wynnum, Queensland

Rose scale is a common pest, especially on older stems and where shaded. The females are 2mm and circular; males are 1mm long and elongated. They suck sap and weaken the plant, even causing death. Prune off heavily infested stems. Scrub off scales with an old toothbrush (an electric one is easiest), then spray with PestOil or Eco-Oil weekly for three weeks.

I want to learn more about growing native bush foods. Are there any classes in NSW?

Sandra L, Shellharbour, NSW

Fee-based online courses on knowing and growing bush tucker plants are at acs.edu.au, learningcloud.com.au, coursestream.com.au, careersonlinecourses.com.au and australianonlinecourses.com.au. Books include Grow Your Own Bushfoods by Keith and Irene Smith, Australian Native Food Harvest by Julie Weatherhead, and a Bushfoods E-book from grow.pipmagazine.com.au. The Tuckerbush range of plants, with growing information, is at tuckerbush.com.au.

What plants will survive our frosty winters in the ACT but give a lush, green rainforest look? They’re to add under a light canopy of tall gums, hakeas and wattles.

Ron Kelly, Canberra

For shrubs with foliage colour try Abelia ‘Kaleidoscope’, gold-dust plant (Aucuba japonica ‘Variegata’), dwarf forms of sacred bamboo (Nandina) and varieties of looking glass plant (Coprosma). For perfumed flowers try Mexican orange blossom (Choisya ternata) and evergreen Magnolia figo and M. ‘Mixed Up Miss’. A tough, large fern is Polystichum proliferum or mother shield fern. Chinese windmill palm (Trachycarpus) is one of several frost-tolerant palms; sago cycad (Cycas revoluta) might also suit.

Send your questions to [e-mail] The best question for July wins a bundle of three stylish Le Sac gardening belts, valued at $228, to keep your tools, phone and accessories at hand.

The Le Sac gardening belt.