I'iS GLENNYS HANDBOOK 



of these genera, witli many of the Heliclirysums, are green- 

 house shrubs, mostly very showy plants. The compost 

 for them should be three parts turfy peat to one of sandy 

 loam, and an eighth part of sand added. They strike from 

 cuttings in sand under a bell-glass : the cuttings, when rooted, 

 may be potted in three-inch pots, and be grown in the 

 greenhouse near the glass. They should be topped as soon as 

 they begin to grow, to induce them to form a shrubby habit, 

 with numerous lateral shoots. While small they should 

 not be allowed to flower, but the buds should be taken off as 

 soon as they are discerned : this encourages Iree growth, 

 and prevents loss of time, for the plants make little or no 

 growth while the flowers are swelling and opening. All the 

 shoots that are becoming too vigorous must be topped, so as 

 to check informality or awkwardness of shape. H. arenariurn 

 is a showy dwarf hardy perennial, propagated readily by 

 division, growing freely in any sandy soil, and bearing in 

 August a profusion of yellow blossoms, which, though sm;ill, 

 grow in good-sized heads, and are preserved to a considerable 

 extent, dyed of various colours, and sold in the shops as a 

 component of " winter nosegays." The common annual 

 " Everlasting " and some allied plants, though introduced 

 from New Holland, are treated exactly as half-hardy annuals, 

 being sown in the open borders in March and April, or for 

 earlier blooming on a gentle hotbed in March, and trans- 

 planted in May. They come into bloom at an advanced 

 period of the summer, and continue a succession of blossoms 

 until destroyed by the frosts of autumn. 



HELIOPHILA. [Cruciferae.] Hardy annuals, some of 

 which are pretty flower-border plants. They should be sown 

 in the open ground in March and April, or for earlier 

 blooming in March, under cover, and afterwards planted out. 

 Rather sandy soil is preferable, and they like exposure to 

 sun. Two or three are delicate greenhouse shrubs, but not 

 of much importance. 



HELIOTROPIUM. Heliotrope or Turnsole. [Ehre- 

 tiaceae.] A genus comprising stove and hardy annuals, and 

 stove and greenhouse shrubs, of little importance except the 

 Peruvian Heliotrope {H. Peruvianwn), which is a great 

 favourite in flower gardens, and bears grateful-smelling bios- 



