SEPTEMBER. 



205 



form tolerable — from Mr. W. R. Bragg, Star Nursery, Slough. Cen- 

 sors : Messrs. Black and Lidgard. A label of commendation to 

 Hollyhock, Purity : colour clear white ; petals smooth, somewhat 

 flat, and rather small — from Mr. W. R. Bragg, Star Nursery, 

 Slough. 



THE WINTER HELLEBORE. 



The Helleborus niger, or Christmas Rose, is decidedly the glory of our 

 winter parterres. In my last place were prodigious specimens of this 

 interesting plant. In April, when sometimes they were in flower, I 

 used to part the roots, and in the following and future seasons I was 

 always rewarded with a profusion of blossoms. In mild winters this 

 plant begins its career of flowering often as early as November ; and 

 once commenced, it seldom ceases till the following March or April. 

 I keep a number of these plants in pots, in which they appear 

 remarkably healthy. Through the summer my plan is to place them 

 where the sun may not be too powerful, plunging the pots into ashes 

 till winter, when they are removed to, and serve to enliven, the 

 greenhouse, in which, from their bold and animating appearance, they 

 never fail to afford satisfaction. 



The Hellebore will invariably thrive in good vegetable earth. 

 The chief cause of failure may, in most cases, be attributed to too 

 frequent removal, to which this plant is often subjected. At the 

 usual flowering time I have a number of other species, as H. viridis, 

 also in bloom ; but as the flowers of this variety prove less attractive 

 than those of niger, the latter should be most extensively cultivated. 



Englefield Green. William Whale. 



[Since we find that Hellebores are attracting some notice as fine 

 hardy herbaceous plants, fit for undergrowth in woods and shrubbe- 

 ries, the following synopsis, taken from Paxtons Flower -Garden, may 

 perhaps not be unacceptable to our readers : 



Siiffrutescent, with biennial stems. 

 ^'Suf^'!"'; : :} three-leaved. | H. fetidus .... 

 Herbaceous, tciih annual stems. 



palmate- 

 leaved. 



with green 

 flowers. 



H. Bocconi, and perhaps another species, doubtful, in Italy; H. 

 fcetidus is a native of Wales ; H. viridis, of Dorsetshire ; H. argu- 

 tifoHus and lividus, of Corsica; H. niger, of the Alps ; H. abchasicus, 

 orientalis, and olympicus, of the Levant ; the rest, of Hungary. All, 

 except lividus, are of the easiest culture in shady situations.] 



