Commonly found in gardens and growing wild across our mountains and forests, the Helleborus genus includes around 20 species of which 5 are present in Italy and the rest originate in the East. For the shape of the flowers, 5 white petals, and for the time when they bloom, the “Christmas rose,” or Helleborus niger, is the most famous species in gardens, but it is very interesting to observe how the other wild hellebores in Italy (including H. argutifolius, H. foetidus, H. viridis)found their ideal habitat at the foot of trees and shrubs in the Medieval Botanical Garden in the city center. The collection is rounded off by a series of recent hybrids from Asia of the Helleborus orientalis that, unlike Italian hellebores, range in color from yellow to purple, pink to green. All hellebores bloom in winter and seem to challenge the coldest months.
