The Helleborus reinvented

Since time immemorial, the Helleborus has graced our rural gardens. Colloquially, we refer to it as Christmas rose, (smelly) sneezewort or winter queen. The perennial is also popular as a table decoration, as a patio plant and as a houseplant. And is actually being reinvented in Oostkamp.

The hardy Helleborus is a native plant; that implies resistance and familiarity with our climatic conditions. It blooms in early winter in a wide variety of colors and inflorescences.

For fifteen years, the Van Paemel family of Helleborus nursery 'Het Wilgenbroek' in Oostkamp has made it their life's work to continually develop new cultivars - so to speak: reinventing the Helleborus - and reap worldwide successes in doing so. Pollination is done by hand and through selection and research they succeed in developing new varieties with clock-like regularity.

This is often done in collaboration with other specialized companies, government agencies and research centers, which also breed plants in vitro. For example, a collaboration with Microflor from Lochristi led to the creation of the ViV collection. The result of this breeding is a Helleborus plant that excels with new colors, larger flowers, longer shelf life and longer flowering times.

Since 2015, the arrival of the second generation at the breeder from Oostkamp has provided an additional drive within the company. 'Het Wilgenbroek' supplies a clientele of nurseries and garden centers worldwide with young plants for further breeding and flowering specimens for direct sale.