British Columbia: Sad Hellebore

I transplanted this gorgeous hellebore from a generous Victoria neighbour's garden to mine about 2 months ago. I planted it in soil mixed with compost and it gets about 3 - 4 hours of sun with dappled shade. It looked great until about three weeks ago when the branches (?stems) started to flatten down to the ground. The tips of some leaves are going brown. What's wrong?

 

looks like it needs more moisture

Ian

 

It's had plenty of water. I wondered if maybe too much.

 

Too much water would produce the same symptoms as under watering....

Ian

 

Leave it to Mother Nature. It will settle in or it won't; no further human intervention is necessary. Most gardeners remove the leaves in late winter to make way for flower buds/stems. Here's hoping your plant will root well and send up buds and stems next March.

 

I understand they are evergreen, which was attractive to me, but do the leaves get ratty by the end of winter? Is that why some gardeners remove them?

 

The old leaves do tend to flop and get ratty. There's information at hellebores.org. A favourite garden guru, Margaret Roach, says "You've got to grow it to know it." Have fun getting to know your hellebore!

 

thanks Debby, that's a great site. Mentions that hellebores can take a lot of water or little, so I'll stop worrying that I've killed it and look forward to seeing what happens next year.