How to Grow Hellebore Flowers From Seed

Hellebores often emerge when frost is still abundant in cold gardens! While nursery cultivars are diverse, growing hellebores from seed offers a challenging reward—you’ll find new, unique hybrids! Join longtime hellebore gardener Jerad Bryant in learning to grow these lovely flowers from seed.

Close-up of cup-shaped flowers with double, overlapping yellow petals edged in pink, blooming on sturdy green stems, surrounded by leathery, dark green, deeply lobed leaves, showing the beauty that comes when you grow hellebores from seed.

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Hellebore flowers add winter charm to shade gardens. They’re incredibly frost tolerant, resisting hard freezes in temperate zones. Plant them alongside camellias, primulas, and daffodils to add much-needed color to the drab winter garden. 

Though dozens of hellebore varieties offer unique flower colors and structures, growing hellebores from seed offers new characteristics. You may sprout blooms with interesting stripes, dots, or petal arrangements. Some may have a single row of petals while others can have two or three layers!

We’ll take you through the entire process, from flower pollination to seed starting. You can take many different approaches, from lackadaisical to heavily involved. Nature will do much of the work for you, as plants want to flower and set seed to survive. 

If you purchased hellebore seeds or got some from a friend, skip to step five to start growing. Steps one through four are for creating new hybrids from existing plants. No matter your approach, you’ll have fresh seedlings a few weeks after planting. Let’s dig in!

EasyStart Gardening Kit

EasyStart Gardening Kit

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EasyStart Gardening Kit

Seed Starting Tray

Epic 1020 Universal Bottom Tray

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Epic 1020 Universal Bottom Tray

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Step 1: Choose the Parents

Pale green closed blooms with subtle pink blush petals and a prominent central ring of yellow stamens contrast against leathery, evergreen leaves in the garden.
Pollinating two plants offers exciting variety for your seedlings.

Growing these herbaceous perennials from seed requires a healthy parent stock. The characteristics your seedlings display depend on their parents. Hellebores are self-pollinating, meaning you can use one or two plants for parents. Use two plants for more variety and genetic variability; more diversity is better when starting.

Pollination involves pollen traveling inside a tube in the flower, called a style, where it meets ovules. The pollen fertilizes the eggs in the ovules, fusing its DNA into them. The ovules begin developing, turning into embryos. This essential fusing process creates new genetic combinations that manifest in the seedlings.

Maybe you like the yellow color of one variety, but you prefer the double petals of another type. By combining pollen from the yellow one with ovules of the double-petal type, you have a chance of creating double-petal yellow blossoms. Every factor is worth considering, from leaf shape to overall height. The randomness is a part of the fun—you never know what type of flowers you’ll end up with!

Step 2: Pollinate the Flowers

Close-up of a delicate bowl-shaped flower with double yellowish-cream petals flushed with pink at the edges, surrounding a central cluster of golden stamens, standing above a dense mound of glossy, serrated green foliage.
Transfer pollen carefully to achieve the flowers you want.

Because hellebores are self-pollinating, they’ll naturally use their own pollen to fertilize their ovules and grow seeds if they don’t receive any pollen from outside sources. If you have one plant as a parent, you don’t need to worry about controlling the pollen sources. When using two plants, you’ll remove pollen organs from the mother’s flower.

This extra step ensures that the new plants grow with the genes you want them to. Otherwise, outside sources may interfere with your breeding efforts and lead to unwanted outcomes. Start by gathering small snips, a fine paintbrush, and a container. 

The goal is to transfer pollen from one flower to the ovules of another. Begin by sourcing pollen from the father plant. Gather it with snips, cutting the pollen sacs—also known as anthers—from the flowers. They form in rings inside the flower, dangling off of long stems called filaments. Put them in the container for an easy transfer.

Then, find the mother flowers you want to pollinate. The best types are those that recently opened; they most likely need pollen. Begin by snipping all of their anthers off, taking care not to damage the sensitive stigmas and styles of the female floral organs. There are typically three or more styles and dozens of anthers. 

With the male anthers removed, it’s time to dust and bag the flowers! Using the paintbrush, generously dust the pollen from the container into the stigmas of the mother’s blooms. Then, cover them with micromesh bags to prevent outside pollen from reaching them.

Step 3: Let Embryos Mature

Chartreuse-green blooms with broad, slightly rippled petals and a cluster of pale stamens contrast against the plant’s rich, veined, evergreen leaves under full sun in the garden.
Label pollinated flowers to track seed development later.

After pollination, it’s time to sit back and wait. The fertilized ovules need time to develop into embryos with a protective seed coat. You’ll notice three or more structures protruding from the flowers that swell as they age. They’re called “follicles.” They’re a type of dry fruit that protects developing seeds. 

Seeds need a few months to develop. Once the fruit-like seed pods begin swelling, you may remove the micromesh bags from the flowers. The stigma naturally closes while the seeds grow, preventing cross-contamination from other pollen sources. 

Before walking away, it’s a good idea to label the flowers you pollinated. Mark them with plant labels around the stems or loosely tie a ribbon around them. This will help you identify which to collect from in late summer and early fall.

Step 4: Collect Ripe Seeds

A dried, brown, split-open seed pod with a papery texture reveals glossy, dark seeds inside, set against fading petals.
Snip ripe pods and store seeds for the next season.

In North America, most seeds ripen from June through August. Certain varieties mature quicker than others, so keep a close eye on your plants while they grow. You want to catch the seeds before they drop to the ground.

The seeds are oval, black, and wrinkled when dry. Collect them from ripe pods by snipping or plucking them from the flowers. Open the pods, then pick the seeds from them. Dry them on a flat tray for a day, then store them in glass jars, plastic containers, or paper packets.

Fresh hellebore seeds are the best kinds for sowing. Use those you collect yourself, or find ripe ones from specialty nurseries. 

Step 5: Prepare the Planting Site

Close-up of a black plastic seedling tray with deep square cells filled with fresh soil, with a small wooden-handled garden trowel partially inserted.
Choose deep containers with drainage for successful seed starting.

Preparation is key for growing any plant from seed, but especially hellebores! Though you may grow seedlings in the ground, they’re marginally frost-hardy from USDA hardiness zones 4 through 8. Some species are more cold-hardy than the hybrid types, though all benefit from pot culture while they’re seedlings. 

Gather containers, trays, and potting soil or a seed-starting mix. These perennials have thick roots that penetrate deep into the ground. Cube pots allow plenty of room and are great for hellebore seedlings. However, any deep container will do, so long as it has drainage holes. Fill the containers with moist potting soil, ensuring there’s some room on top.

Step 6: Sow Seeds

Close-up of a woman's hands holding glossy black seeds over a large seed tray filled with soil.
Plant multiple seeds per pot for better germination chances.

Using your tray, arrange the containers so they all line up in rows. Plant two or three seeds per pot, placing them in the center of each container. Planting multiple increases the chances of germination; if one seed doesn’t sprout, the next one should! Cover the seeds with a quarter inch of fine soil or perlite with small particles. 

Spray the top of the soil with a water bottle, ensuring the cover is moist so it won’t blow away. Hellebores sprout best outdoors under filtered or bright indirect sunlight. Avoid direct sunlight, as it’ll quickly dry the sprouting seedlings. 

Step 7: Care for Seedlings

Close-up of small sprouts with oval green glossy cotyledons in a large pot with moist soil.
Ensure seedlings receive filtered light and moist soil.

Maturing seedlings need some care to perform at their best. They’re at higher risk of frost damage in containers. Keep them outside under indirect light until they germinate, then transfer them to an unheated greenhouse, cold frame, or hoop house. 

The greenhouse or cold frame keeps temperatures cool but not freezing, allowing for healthy growth during the winter months. Maintain a moist soil culture, and grant the growing plants access to dappled or filtered sunlight.

Step 8: Up-Pot Growing Hellebores

Soft pink and creamy white, bowl-shaped flowers with gently ruffled edges and a central cluster of golden stamens stand above a dense mound of glossy, serrated foliage in plastic pots placed in decorative wicker baskets on a sunny windowsill.
Repot seedlings once they outgrow their pots.

It’s rare for hellebores to flower in their first year; you’ll most likely see flowers the second winter or early spring after germination. Depending on the species, it can take multiple years for a plant to flower. The seedlings will grow in their cube pots, forming seed leaves (cotyledons) and true leaves as the temperatures warm and days lengthen. Hellebore cotyledons (seed leaves) look different than normal foliage, and they grow before any other leaves appear. 

After the first two true leaves appear, you may transplant the seedlings into larger containers. This is only necessary if the plants are outgrowing their pots and roots are visibly poking out of the drainage holes. Otherwise, you may leave the perennials alone until they’re more mature.

During uppotting, be sure to loosen the roots so they dangle downwards. Any circling or pot-bound roots will threaten later growth, and it’s best to unwind them during transplanting. Begin fertilizing the plants six weeks after up-potting them with a well-balanced organic fertilizer

Step 9: Transplant into the Garden

A male gardener wearing gloves and overalls transplants potted seedlings of flowering plants into a garden bed.
Transplant to a shaded garden spot after the frost passes.

Growing hellebores from seed yields super cute seedlings that are fun to watch as they mature, sprouting tender leaves on thick stems. You may transplant them into the garden after the danger of hard frost passes in spring. An occasional light frost won’t hurt, as the plants thrive in cold temperatures. 

To transplant, first prepare the planting site. Dig holes as deep and twice as wide as the hellebores’ rootballs. Place the plants in the holes so their roots are underground and their stems are above the soil line. Backfill the holes with the dirt you dug out, then pat it down lightly and water the site well. 

Hellebores prefer partial or full shade. They dislike intense direct sunlight, preferring filtered, indirect, or dappled light. Plant them in a shady spot in your garden below trees, larger shrubs, and other perennials. You’ll most likely see blooms on them next winter—they’ll emerge from underground despite frosty weather!

Frequently Asked Questions

When is best to sow hellebore seeds?

June through August is the best time. Use fresh ones, as they germinate better than old ones.

How do you save hellebore seeds?

Pluck the dry pod-like fruit from the flowers, open the pods, and let the seeds drop into a container. Ensure they’re dry first before storing them long-term.

What does a hellebore seed look like?

They’re oval, small, black, and wrinkly.

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