why does my helleborusw ericsmithii look dead

The old leaves do die back brown, but usually the new plant for next year sprouts off the bottom, cut the old stems back to tiedy it up unless their are seeds in the old flowers which you can let fall into loose soil around the mother plant and nurture some more for next year.

The seeds may not be true to the mother plant if there are several hellebore's around. (just wanted to warn you!) If you don't want seeds/seedlings, cut the flowers off too.

I had white and red, I now have a lovely collection of White red and various shades of pink a lovely bed of them, cheeper than buying them! I am thrilled.

Hellebores are not sun lovers so a spot with at least half the day in the shade would be better for them. They also like a good, moisture retentive soil and a good feed each spring

Thanks for that Andrewr, I've just moved mine to a shadier and damper spot. Hoping they won't sulk too much and still flower next year, eeek!

Thanks for all the informaton have trimed the leaves and moved the plant to a shadey place noticed the soil was very wet.

Why are the leaves on my HELLEBORUS covered in a sticky substance and whiteflies.