HIBISCUS. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. HIPPOCREPIS. 501 



flowers, smaller than in that kind, very 

 abundant, and, like it, produced twice in 

 the season. 



H. ROSAMUNDI (micrantha rosea x san- 

 guinea). The best hybrid yet raised, with 

 tall branched stems of rosy flowers, inter- 

 mediate in size between those of gracillima 

 and sanguinea. It is of good constitution 

 and pretty for cutting. 



H. SANGUINEA. The prettiest of the 

 wild kinds. There are several varieties 

 in cultivation, but none of them show 

 much improvement in constitution ; they 

 are grandiflora robusta, with larger flowers 

 of a paler pink ; splendens, with larger 

 and darker flowers, the best of all in 

 colour ; rosea, also with pale flowers ; and 

 alba, the so-called white form, though the 

 flowers are only an uncertain greenish- 

 grey, turning pink with exposure. 



HIBISCUS (Rose Mallow}. Shrubby 

 and herbaceous perennials and annuals, 

 from 4 to 7 feet high, they have 

 splendid crimson or rosy flowers, as 

 large as saucers. The finest are 

 H. Moscheutos, H. palustris, H. 

 grandiflorus, and H. coccineus. They 

 seldom bloom in the open air in 



* 



Venice Mallow (Hibiscus Triomtni). 



England, as they flower late in the 

 season. There are two or three annual 

 kinds, the finest being H. Manihot, 

 which forms handsome pyramids 4 to 

 6 feet high, the flowers being 3 or 4 

 inches across, and pale yellow with a 

 dark centre. H. Manihot should be 

 treated as a half-hardy annual, sown in 

 heat in February, and in May planted 

 out in good deep soil. H. africanus is 

 a hardy annual with showy pale 

 yellow flowers that only open in fine 

 weather. In light soil it usually sows 

 itself. H. Trionum appears to be 

 extremely variable, and has long been 

 cultivated in gardens. It is widely 

 scattered over all the warm regions of 

 the O}4 World, and is usually described 



as a common sub-tropical weed found 

 plentifully in cultivated fields in 

 Afghanistan. 



H. SYRIACUS (Syrian Mallow, Rose of 

 Sharon). A beautiful shrub, bearing 

 showy blossoms in late summer and in 

 autumn. The wild form has bluish-purple 

 flowers with crimson centres, but now 

 there are forms representing every tint 

 from white (totus albus) to crimson and 

 purple, while the blooms of one sort 

 (Celeste) are almost blue. There are also 

 double flowers of varied colours. The 

 best kinds, single and double, are totus 

 albus, Celeste, Violet Claire, Leopoldi, 

 bicolor, roseus plenus, Pompon rouge, car- 

 neoplenus, Due de Brabant, albus plenus, 

 puniceus plenus, and anemon&florus. 



In the South German gardens this 

 shrub bears much larger flowers than 

 in England. The pure white kind 

 (totus albus] and a few others lead to 

 the hope that it is a plant capable of 

 real improvement through raising seed- 

 ling forms, and perpetuating the best 

 of them. In my own trials here this 

 tree did not open on cool hilly soils, 

 and half open it is not worth having. 

 In the Thames valley and below the 

 downs it flowers well. 



HIDALGOA WERCKLEI (Climbing 

 Dahlia] . A showy climbing half-hardy 

 plant from the mountains of Costa 

 Rica, nearly allied to the Dahlia. 

 Planted out against a sunny wall at 

 the end of May, its stems quickly 

 cover a wide space with their cheerful 

 bright green and much cut leaves, 

 which attach themselves to surround- 

 ing objects by a twist of the stalk. 

 Towards autumn bright scarlet flowers 

 appear, 2| inches across, and like those 

 of a single dahlia, but lasting much 

 longer, and pretty for cutting. The 

 plant should have all the sun one can 

 give it, and a soil not too rich, or there 

 is luxuriant growth without flowers. 



HIERACIUM ( Hawkweed) .Peren- 

 nial herbs with yellow flowers, very 

 numerous, and often beautiful in 

 nature, but not much grown in 

 gardens. Among the best are auran- 

 tiacum, with orange flowers, a good 

 plant, but apt to spread too much in 

 the garden ; and villosum, the Shaggy 

 Hawkweed, a handsome plant with 

 silvery leaves and large yellow flowers. 

 Free in ordinary soil. Borders. Divi- 

 sion. 



HIPPOCREPIS COMOSA (Horse- 

 shoe Vetch) . A small prostrate British 

 plant, with pretty little deep-yellow 

 flowers, in , coronilla-like crowns, the 



