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Grace Helen Ballard, also known as Grace Helen Wilson and born Grace Helen Ranken (11 January 190828 May 1995), was a British horticulturist known for her hellebore hybrids.
Whilst she was in Hamburg, Ballard met her first husband, Peter Cecil Wilson, who was learning German there. He became a successful art auctioneer at Sotheby's. They had two children before her husband realised his latent homosexuality. They dissolved their marriage in 1951.
She went on to marry Philip Ernest Ballard the same year. Her new father-in-law Ernest Ballard is credited with giving her four hellebore roots and she then became interested in horticulture and hellebores in particular.
Helen Ballard worked near Malvern and Elizabeth Strangman had similar interests in Kent. These two "hellebore horticulturalists" became so important that some felt that hellebores would go into decline when they were no longer around; both shared the skills. Ballard arranged for her stock to be given to Gisela Schmiemann in Cologne who established a mail order business based on these varieties.
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