I am a newbie to gardening, so I spent a lot of money with a less than reputable online site (Heronswood is not the best for hellebores according to davesgarden watchdog). Anyway, today I saw one bare root with green top growth and green stem- I assume it's doing well. Out of curiousity, I dug up the areas around my other 9 hellebore markers and I got nothing but dust! The area is in my driveway, with 4 trees, 3 unknown, but 1 mature black walnut. Lots of roots and dry sandy soil. Also, some underground rhizome (?fern?eunonymous) penetrates the soil. I watered occasionally, but just assumed the bare roots were dormant and shouldn't require a lot of fuss.

Is all lost? Should I transplant the one apparent success to a container? I tend to do better with planting live flowering specimens in my garden, and bare roots intimidated me. I'm zone 5a. Help!

FWIW, evergreen plants (including perennials like hellebores) do not really go through a similar type of dormancy as do deciduous or fully herbaceous perennials. Certainly, growth slows at specific times of year, but they continue to photosynthesize and will require sufficient moisture and other proper growing conditions to do so. Planting tiny, little bare root starts, already stressed from being bare rooted, at the beginning of summer in less than ideal soil conditions and with minimal watering is a sure recipe for failure.

As to Heronswood hellebores......I have purchased countless hellebores from Heronswood in the past. This was one of the premier suppliers of hellebores and has been responsible for the introduction of several outstanding selections. However this was the ORIGINAL Heronswood Nursery, located just up the road from me, and before its takeover by Burpee's. Since the old nursery was closed and operations moved to Pennsylvania, I have avoided any transactions. Primarily because I don't do any mail order if I can get the plants elsewhere but also because of the way the closure of the original Heronswood was handled and the fact that George Ball (Mr. Burpee) then assumed credit for all the range of plants and hybrids - including their current selection of hellebores - that were developed and introduced by the original owners.

I'm not discouraging anyone from purchasing from Heronswood - I just choose not to. You can also purchase potted hellebores by mail order from Sunshine Farms, Pine Knot Farms, Plant Delights Nursery, Bluestone or various other suppliers. But the popularity of hellebores has grown so much in recent years and since Helleborus x hybridus was named Perennial Plant of the Year for 2005, these plants are readily available in season at most retail nurseries. Even the big box stores.

I actually called Wayside gardens and they are sending 7 replacements- not that they will be successful but at least I have a "second chance" to get some other things right.

I am carefully considering my purchases for next year and plan to carefully vet (as much as is possible online)the supplier of any plant. Gardenweb is surely a treasured find as the posts have been informative for people like myself who jump in and ask questions later!

Thanks for the info- hopefully others will read and put it to good use too.