The Hellebore Specialists

 

HOW WE DO THINGS (please read before ordering)

Typically, the turnaround time between placing an order and receiving it is 1-2 weeks, but this can vary. The time we take to get plants to you depends on the number of orders we receive at any given time as well as factors such as holidays and Australia Post delivery times. As we are a small Nursery and we need to spend time growing and propagating our plants, we usually only dispatch orders once a week, on Tuesdays. When we are very busy the time taken to receive your plants may be up to 3 weeks.

You will receive an email from us when we dispatch the plants, so you will know when they are on the way. In most circumstances parcels we send get to their destination within 2-7 days. We package our plants very well in boxes. Hellebores are tough and we find will happily survive in a box for at least 2 weeks.

To help cover some of the cost of packing and posting your plants we charge:

  • Victorian orders $14.50 per order (no limit on number of plants)
  • ACT, NSW, QLD, SA and TAS orders $18.50 per order (up to 24 plants)
  • ACT, NSW, QLD, SA and TAS orders $24.50 per order (over 24 plants)

We send plants with Australia Post, so we can send to PO Boxes as well as street addresses. You will receive an email from us with Australia Post tracking information when we post your plants. In most circumstances parcels we send get to their destinations within 2-7 days. Hellebores are tough and we find will happily survive in a box for at least 2 weeks.

We post plants to all states, EXCEPT WA (sorry it is your quarantine requirements). We are accredited to send to Tasmania. Sorry but we are not able to send plants outside of Australia.

Yes, there is an option to pick up your order from the Nursery.  This can be selected as an option when placing your order in the shop.  However, you will need to email us to make an appointment for the pickup. In April and May pickups need to happen on weekdays. From June to September pickups can also take place on Sundays, when the Nursery is open to the public. Again you will need to let us know when you want to pick up your plants so we can have them ready for you.

Our website shop provides secure on-line ordering, and uses the eWay payments gateway which is tier-one PCI DSS compliant.

You may pay for your order on our website shop by credit card (VISA or Mastercard only), Paypal or select to pay by EFT.

The Hellebores we send through the post are 1 year old seedlings in 75mm tubes. You can see an image of typical mail order plants here. Depending on the variety they can vary a little in size but they are all ready to be planted. We would expect that they will flower the Winter in the year following purchase. Hellebores generally don’t flower until they are 2 years old (and then too big to post).

Hellebores naturally put on a lot of root growth.  All stock we send out is the current seasons stock, however particularly later in the season the plants may appear to be 'root bound' due to this typical strong root growth (and because we grow them so well!).  We find this is not a problem for the plants and that with some gentle loosening of the roots when planting, their growth will not be affected.

The Hellebores we sell are grown from hand pollinated seed. This means that the plants are not genetically identical and within each colour group there may be some variation. Because we have carefully selected the parent plants and because we spend many hours painstakingly hand pollinating them, we have developed each colour group to be quite reliable in terms of flower colour. However, as seed raised plants the seedlings will show some variability within the parameters of the ‘strain’, for example, the precise colour shade, foliage characteristics and flower shape may vary within each strain.

So if you buy several Double reds, for example they may have some slight variation in the precise shade of burgundy but they should all fit within the parameters of being ‘Double red’. Some of the more complex colour forms which feature two or more colours on the one flower or spotting can show a bit more variation than the plain colour forms. However, it is our experience that the combination of deliberate selection of parent plants and skilled hand pollination results in far better and more predictable offspring than with ‘ordinary’ seed grown Hellebores (which will vary a lot).

Hellebores are temperate climate plants and need extended cool to cold Winters to flower. You can grow Hellebores successfully anywhere in Victoria or Tasmania. In South Australia southern parts areas around Adelaide and down to Mt Gambier are fine. Inland parts of NSW from Wagga to Orange and Armidale that have cold Winters are fine. They grow very well in the Southern Highlands and Blue Mountains areas of NSW and Canberra. Near the coast in NSW we only recommend Hellebores up to Newcastle. Further north than Newcastle is marginal for Hellebores as it is too humid and warm in Winter. In Queensland we only recommend Hellebores in inland high altitude areas of the south east like Stanthorpe, Warwick or Toowomba. Please don’t order if you are in Brisbane.

We take considerable care in preparing and packing plants for despatch.  We guarantee safe delivery of our plants. If there are any problems with the condition of plants when they are received please advise us within 24 hours of receiving the plants. Happily we find this is a very rare occurrence.

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