Christmas Rose a gift idea
As a garden designer in Oxford creating all round colour is imperative to me. One plant that I particularly like is the Helleborus niger. This perenial plant is evergreen, and has beautiful white flowers in the winter. It’s flower resembles the rose hence it’s name.
There are many Helleborus but the niger is the Christmas rose, so a lovely Christmas idea for someone to give in a pot or for a shady spot in their garden.
Story of the Christmas Rose
The story of the flower is that it was created when a little girl, Madelon visited Christ’s birth place in Bethlehem and was sad as she saw the kings and the shepherds bringing gifts to the little boy. As her tears fell to the ground so the Helleborus niger grew.
There are many other Hellebore varieties providing pale pint to deep purple flowers such as the Black Swan from thomas morgan, they will flower from January to May so a great addition to the garden. If you’re adding them to a slighly woodland area they will self seed and assuming you don’t weed the area too much produce a lovely display in a few years.
Some history for the Christmas Rose
Apparently the Christmas Rose is a toxic plant but never fear as it is rather disgusting to taste, so I’m told it is quickly spat out. In medieval times it was known for it’s healing properties as well as it’s poisonous ones. It is said that the leaves were crushed and fed to Alexander the Great but no one really knows the cause of his death.
That said this plant is a beautiful plant that brightens up shady areas and whilst it has poisonous properties it also has healing properties, so I’d consider this plant as a lovely Christmas gift.