HELLEBORUS These captivating Ranunculus relatives have an almost mythical allure, their mysterious blooms appear at a time when most respectable plants are still asleep for the winter. Hellebores, like their Peony and Adonis relatives can be extremely long lived in the garden, and may well out live the gardener who planted them. They prefer slightly alkaline soil with plenty of organic matter but will survive in damn near anything, they will tolerate sun or shade although only Helleborus vesicarius will tolerate a hot sunbaked site, the rest are better with at least some partial shade during the heat of the day. Adequate moisture is essential during the active growing season but established plants seem to tolerate summer drought without incident. Fierce winter winds are to be avoided especially for the evergreen types, it doesn't kill them but the foliage will look like crap. Treat them as you would other broadleaf evergreens.