RENICK, WV – Hellebores are late-winter blooming, giving rise to the nicknames Lenten rose and winter rose. Their attractive flowers are formed by five delicate sepals, except in the double versions, which feature multiple layers of sepals.
These perennial, evergreen plants grow about 12 inches tall and favor shade to part sun. Deer do not eat them. They can be grown across most of the U.S., in Zones 3 to 9. In short, there’s nothing not to love about them.
That’s something Barry Glick discovered over 40 years ago, when he started raising hellebores on his nursery, Sunshine Farm and Gardens, in the Alleghany Mountains of West Virginia. Today Glick is the largest grower of hellebores in the world, with over six acres of stock plants in woodland fields. Over the years he has developed a number of hellebore hybrids.
“They’re so incredibly variable from black to white to everything in between, sometimes spotted,” Glick said. “I’ve never seen one I didn’t like.”
Glick is particularly partial to hellebores with picotee, which is when the end of a petal is darker than the rest of the petal.
In addition to hellebores, Sunshine grows plants native to the East Coast. The nursery has 15 acres under production, all of it irrigated, as well as some greenhouses. The location of the farm is so remote that propane is delivered in winter by 4WD truck.
Glick founded Sunshine in 1972, but his career in growing predates that. One Sunday when Glick was 5, his father came home with a six-pack of tomatoes, a six pack of carnations and a pack of radish seeds. He gave them to his son and Glick’s career as a grower began.
“When I smell carnations I still get the memory of that day,” he said.
Later that summer, when the radishes bolted and flowered, Glick asked his mother, “What’s that?”
“Those are seeds, honey,” his mother replied. And that’s when Glick’s life as a seed saver and breeder of plants began.
While Glick makes the occasional retail sale, 95% of his sales are wholesale, to customers from around the world but largely from the U.S. and Canada. Hellebores can be planted any time the ground is not frozen. Native to the Balkans, they grow both through seeding and rhizomes.
Every year Glick starts new hellebores from seed to see what kind of flower coloration results. Those he likes he’ll grow in the woodland fields. Each year in late winter he will dig up clumps of hellebores from the woodland fields, splitting them by cutting the rhizomes. He’ll dip the roots in 9-45-15, plant them in pots and let them grow for sale later in the year.
Besides hellebores, Glick is always growing something new. For example, he recently found an antique primrose in an old area cemetery.
Remarking on the amazing find, he said, “So much of life is luck. The key is being able to recognize an opportunity.”
If hellebores or native plants might be an opportunity for you, you can connect with Barry Glick at sunfarm.com.
