They prefer rich, moist soil with good drainage, part to full shade and can be grown in virtually every state in the United States.

At Sunshine Farm & Gardens, we have accumulated well over 50,000 stock plants in the last 12 years and have an extensive breeding program in place. Many of our plants are original divisions of plants that were bred by Helen Ballard, Eric Smith, Marlene Ahlburgh, Gisela Schmeimann, Don Jacobs, Gunther Jurgl, Robin White of Blackthorne Nursery, John Anton Smith, John Massey of Ashwood Nurseries and several lesser-known, but important breeders in New Zealand, Australia and Belgium.

The plants that we offer are the 'Sunshine Selections' and are the result of emasculation and hand pollination to insure that no plants are "inbred" and that all plants have been pollinated with pollen from other plants. This is a tedious, laborious process that lasts from February to May.

In mid May, 4" X 6" drawstring bags are placed over the swelling, pregnant seed heads. These are removed when the seeds are ready for harvest in late June - early July.

The seeds are then cleaned and sown in Landmark® brand 288 deep cell flats and kept in an environmentally controlled space until they commence germination in January of the following year.

All other commercial lines of Hellebores offered for sale in the US are from inbred, self-sown seedlings dug from under existing stock plantings and lack the brilliant color and hybrid vigor of hand-pollinated plants. We produce the only commercially available line of true F1 hybrids.

Helleborus x hybridus 'Sunshine Selections' are available in Landmark® brand DEEP 288 cell flats from Feb thru June, in 2" treeband pots (pictured left) year round and in 4” treebands starting September. I could go on and on about these truly unique plants, but by now you get a good idea of the intense efforts that we’ve put into making them the most colorful, vigorous strain of Hellebores available on the planet today.

Barry Glick, Breeder

Our 'Sunshine Selections' gallery features representatives of the parental stock used in creating 'Sunshine Selections'.

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