HELEXIUM. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



HELIANTHUS. 



tall for the rock-garden, and is more 

 suited for the mixed border. 



HELENIUM (5;/£'r5-^-'z<y£'^(^. — \^igorous 

 Composites from North America, flowering 

 in autumn, and thriving in any soil, and, 

 where rightly used, excellent plants. 

 There are two or three species, the most 

 useful being H. aiiiunmale, about 6 ft. 

 high, bearing yellow flower-heads. The 

 varieties grandiceps and pumiiuin are very 

 distinct : grafidiccps being of gigantic 

 growth with a fasciated head of bloom, 

 which makes it very showy ; pumiiuin 

 ■ being much dwarfer and better than the 

 type. H. atropurpu7-eiiin grows 3 or 4 ft. 

 high, and has reddish-brown flower-heads. 

 H. Hoopesi is desirable, as it flowers in 

 early summer, but is a rather coarse 

 grower, with large yellow flowers. The 

 tirst-mentioned species and its varieties 

 are excellent border plants, and, though 

 vigorous, remain long in bloom. They 

 are very useful for cutting, as they remain 

 a long time fresh. 



HELIANTHEMUM {Sun Rose). — 

 Though strictly shrubby plants for the 

 most part, these dwarf evergreens possess 

 so much the aspect of rock-plants, that 

 they cannot well be separated from them. 

 There are few more brilliant sights than 

 masses of them when in full beauty, 

 and they are of the easiest possible cul- 

 ture, dwarf and 

 compact, bearing 

 in great profusion 

 flowers with fine 

 diversity of colour. 

 The common Sun 

 Rose (//. vulgare) 

 is variable in 

 colour, and from 

 it have sprung 

 the many varie- 

 ties enumerated in 

 trade lists; indeed, 

 we need only this 

 species to repre- 

 sent, for garden 

 purposes, the 

 variation in all the dwarf shrubby species 

 he family. The colours range from 

 white and yellow to deep crimson. There 

 are also double-flowered kinds and one 

 with variegated foliage. Other pretty, 

 dwarf, shrubby species, similar to H. vul- 

 gare., are H. rosnuu-ini/oh'uni, pilosuni, and 

 croceuni. There is also a herbaceous 

 perennial species, H. Tuberaria (Truffle 

 Sun Rose), which in aspect differs com- 

 pletely from the shrubby species, and is 

 second to none in beauty. It grows 6 

 to 12 in. high, with flowers 2 in. across 

 resembling a single yellow Rose, with 



dark centre, and drooping when in bud. 

 It is suited for warm ledges on the rock- 

 garden in well-drained sandy or calcar- 

 eous soil. When sufficiently plentiful it 

 should be used in the mixed border. It 

 is propagated by either seed or division. 

 When a full collection is required there 

 are other species introduced, but the 

 above fairly represent the beauty of the 

 familv. 



HELIANTHUS (5z^;?>w^r)— Peren- 

 nial Sunflowers. — Usually stout, 

 vigorous, and showy plants, typical of the 

 coarse yellow Composites abounding in 

 North America, of which not a few have 

 found their way into English gardens. 

 All the perennials are vigorous growers, 

 and generally attain a great height, being 

 most precious for the autumnal garden 



Double Perennial Sunflower 



when well placed. Sunflowers may be 

 cultivated with the greatest ease ; they 

 are gross feeders, and the richer the 

 soil the better the result. It is true that 

 not a few of this genus are coarse and 

 weedy, unfitted for the flower-garden, but 

 a good many, some of which are not yet 

 in general cultivation, could be utilised 

 with striking effect in the best-kept flower- 

 garden ; and for mixed borders, etc., they 

 are valuable. The Sunflowers, like the 

 Michaelmas Daisies, could ill be spared 

 from the autumn garden, where, when most 

 other hardy perennials are beginning to 

 show the sere and yellow leaf, they are 



