For December, 1^2! 



797 



The Christmas Rose 



BERTHA BERBERT-HAMMOND 



The hills arc uhitc in robes uf siiuzc 

 But lo! upon the Winter's breast 



Amid the gleam of frost and ice 



The Christmas Rose uplifts Us crest. 



It seems the soul of Summer flozvers 

 Grown brave to cheer the Winter hours. 



{Edith Willis Lynn.) 



TO the little known Ijut exceedingly interesting Black 

 Hellebore {Helleborus niger) belongs the unique 

 distinction of being the floral connecting link, be- 

 tween the last flowers of Autumn and the first harbingers 

 of Spring. 



The Black Hellebore (so called on account of the dark 

 color of its rhizomes) is also known as the Christmas 

 Rose because it is usually at the height of its season of 

 bloom during the Yule-tide holidays. It is. however, not 

 a rose at all, as it belongs to the natural order of Ranun- 

 culacece or Buttercup family (Crowfoot family). 



The plant is perfectly hardy and of easy culture. Being 

 a mountain plant it delights in a rich, moist soil such as 

 may be foiuid on a sloping sheltered hillside, but it will 

 thrive nicely in ordinary garden loam in a partially shaded 

 situation. To guard its white blossoms from splashes of 

 mud or other weather damage, it is advisable late in the 

 Fall to use a mulch of moss or clean leaves. A glass cov- 

 ered frame will protect the flowers from injury and from 

 extreme cold. This kind of protection results also in an 

 improvement in the quality and quantity of bloom. After 

 the flowering period a mulch of stable litter or an appli- 

 cation of liquid fertilizer will do much to tone up the 

 plants and encourage growth. 



The rhizomes or root-stocks of tliese desirable plants, 



which are not expen.si\e. may be obtained from plant 

 dealers, and set out either in the early Autumn or early 

 Spring. After two or three years, the clumps may be 

 divided and the new plants, thus obtained, reset. 



Considering its many commendable (jualities it is rather 

 surprising that the Christmas Rose is not more widely 

 known and found in the outdoor garden. Imagine the 

 thrill of the novelty of sweeping away a covering of snow 

 on a mild mid-Winter day and being able to find and 

 pick, for days of indoor enjoyment, fresh buds and flowers 

 with their accompanying dark green leaves ! This one 

 peculiar characteristic of having its season of bloom when 

 no other outdoor flowers are in evidence should assure 

 the lasting popularity of the charming Christmas Rose. 

 A fact not generally known is that plants of this variety 

 potted in the Autumn and grown in a cool window will 

 produce indoors, blossoms that will retain their freshness 

 and beauty for a week or more. 



Not only are the large white flowers beautiful, but the 

 leaves are also attractive and as the foliage is practically 

 evergreen, the thick, shapely leaves retain their charm 

 during most of the year. 



As the Black Hellebore is supposed to be a plant of 

 great antiquity, there is much interesting folk-lore asso- 

 ciated with it. According to an old tradition, out of 

 pity an angel allowed Adam and Eve to take this one 

 flower (the Rose of Afifection) with them when they 

 were driven out of the Garden of Eden. Among the 

 people of the Alsatian Mountains where the Christmas 

 Rose is found quite abundantly, there is a legend that 

 this flower first came into bloom at the hour of the birth 

 of the Christ Child and has ever after been known as the 

 Christmas Rose. 



How to Vary Our Floral Species 



THE little campaign that I have undertaken for at 

 least the partial abandonment in our gardens of 

 one-color masses composed of common plants 

 (geraniums, begonias, anthemis or salvias) and for re- 

 placing them with many-colored perennials, with a suc- 

 cession of flowering, would appear to have been suffi- 

 ciently approved of. 



There is besides, this new tendency, a reason of the 

 first importance — economy. To produce plants generally 

 employed for massing, which are propagated by cuttings, 

 there is need of coal and a furnace. If they are replaced 

 with perennial plants the expense is nil, aside from the 

 cost of producing them the first year, and if annuals are 

 involved there is oid_\- the small expense of the seed. 



In the article entitled "Flower Gardens," published in 

 this journal in which I ilefended at every ])oint the theme 

 that engaged us, I hardl}- had in view perennials plants 

 of which the great lovers of horticulture know so well 

 how to compose their mixed borders. But the same beau- 

 tiful effects can be obtained with annuals of easy culture, 

 and it is to them that I would devote this plea, or rather 

 to some among them that are not enough appreciated. 



Every one, to be sure, is acquainted with the i)opular 

 plants: Queen Marguerites, zinnias, petttnias. balsams. 

 etc.. and against them could not be made the reproach of 

 common-placeness that I addressed above to the gera- 



niums. And nevertheless, the progress that has taken 

 place in each of these classes has at times transformed 

 their forms or their color to the point of rendering them 

 unrecognizable. For example, zinnias, so justly blame- 

 worthy because of their appearance of flowers made of 

 zinc, have lost their stift'ness in the new funnel-shaped 

 flowers : the Queen Marguerites, too regular, have become 

 graceful and ruffled in the varieties Ct>met and Mammoth, 

 and in the Unicum, called Electric because of the radiant 

 form of its flowers. The petunias have shortened their 

 petals and brightened their enlarged throats with colors 

 so diverse and so rich that the name superbissima, which 

 has been given to them, would not ap])ear at all extrava- 

 gant to those who possess a truly select strain. The 

 antirrhinums are no more the common snapdragons of 

 our grandmothers: their flowers have enlarged and the 

 colors have become not only numerous, but delicate and 

 of a character unlooked for. Cam|ianulas have appeared 

 with an ornamental collarette, in the strain called calv- 

 canthema; pansies are marked or striped, while the 

 flowers are enlarged. 



I do not speak of dahlias, which ;ne not. properly speak- 

 ing, annual plants ( that is to say, continuing only a year) 

 liut the\ are to be noted for transformations that are ex- 

 traordinary to the extent that their old roimd and regular 

 fiowers have disappeared, replaced by pleasintr i-(ill.Trettcs, 



