IN MY LADY'S GARDEN 



three weeks. Large plants, which have become well estab- 

 lished, will produce hundreds of blooms, if well cultivated, 

 and it is a far better plan to cover them with a hand-light 

 during their flowering time than to pot them up, for they 

 resent any disturbance of their roots, and often take years 

 to recover it. They are quite hardy, and will not be 

 seriously injured if left uncovered, but the purity of their 

 blossoms is apt to be destroyed by the heavy storms of 

 winter. Where hand-glasses are not used it is desirable to 

 cover the surrounding soil with clean moss, to prevent the 

 rain from dashing it against the flowers. Christmas roses 

 are hungry plants, requiring two mulches of rich soil 

 during the year. They make their leaf-growth during 

 the summer, and it is necessary to support them well at 

 that time, as the strength of the plant depends upon the 

 crowns then in process of formation. A layer of manure 

 placed around the plant in March will tend to keep it well 

 nourished and moist during the warm weather, and a mulch 

 of old hot-bed material, mixed with a little soot, will be 

 useful to the opening buds in the autumn, the soot checking 

 the inroads of slugs. 



Hellebores strongly object to be disturbed, and should 

 not be moved more often than necessary ; they need several 

 seasons to settle themselves before their full beauty is seen, 

 and then increase rapidly, sometimes producing a hundred 

 flowers on one clump. A well-drained position in a half- 

 shaded spot (not, however, where the soil is exhausted by 

 the roots of trees or shrubs) will suit them, and it should 

 be well trenched and manured a few weeks before the plants 

 are put in ; the proper season for transplanting Christmas 

 roses being July (when they are at rest, having finished 

 their leaf growth for the year), and single crowns usually 

 do better than a clump, so that the roots should then be 

 divided. By means of selecting several varieties, these 

 flowers can be obtained all through the winter months. 



For the decoration of the house at Christmas-time, the 

 beautiful epacrises, from Australia, are now most useful. 

 They are often, though erroneously, called heaths, but they 



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