Hellebores - move for next year?

[Marchintospring]

I have a dark north facing front garden in which hellebores do well. Unfortunately mine are a pretty purple that looks rubbish with a well established red Camellia.

My back garden is tiny. I only have room for a small border of about 2m length down one side. If I move them a) will it be too bright, b) will they take over and c) can summer blooming plants grow through them?

According to Monty Don last week, Hellebores hate being moved. They may need to stay where they are.

...and Monty Don is right. Hellebores do hate being moved.

However. If you're willing to take a risk, I do have a method of moving them that generally works well (for them and any other plant that hates being moved).

You need to remove the entire root ball plus a good proportion of the soil around the roots. This means that the plant won't realise that it's been disturbed. In general, that means you need to dig a good ball of soil out that's about the same size as the (fully grown) plant above the roots, plus at least another third of the volume. You can test by digging a little from one side and seeing whether or not you can see roots (if you can see roots, you need to dig further away and be very careful not to repeat the mistake again)!

Dig a hole the same size as the ball you've just dug out, firm the ball in nicely to ensure good 'soil to soil' contact (roots hate gaps!) and then water (keep an eye and water really well every so often during any dry spells in the following weeks).

You could put them in a container. Apparently their roots go down (rather than out) so you would need a deep pot - this has the added advantage of lifting up their downwards-drooping flowerheads to a more visible level..

My back garden is tiny. I only have room for a small border of about 2m length down one side. If I move them a) will it be too bright, b) will they take over and c) can summer blooming plants grow through them?

The will seed but you can pull out the tiny seedling easily. You can also cut off the dead flowers before they seed.

It won't be too bright.

Once they have bloomed they tend to put on new leaf growth. You can cut this back as much as you want as it does get tatty as the season wears on.

Plants won't grow through them as their leaves are thick.

You can space them out though, put them towards the back or front of your border and put other plants among them. Hardy geraniums go well in darkish corners and are good ground cover.

Seems a shame to move them if you haven't got a lot of room to put them elsewhere. Mine have been (and still are) lovely this year, I have quite a few different ones. Also expensive to buy. If you have to move them you can divide them if they are big and hedge your bets put some bits in the back garden and some in containers.

I wouldn't mind the red and purple, but depends on the shades I suppose. Any pics?