238 



ALPINE FLOWERS FOR GARDENS 



[PART II. 



it to a place. Although hardy enough to 

 grow almost anywhere, yet, as it flowers at 

 the dreariest season, when low ground is 

 often saturated with cold rain, it always re- 

 pays for being planted in slightly elevated 

 spots, and where it may enjoy as often as 

 possible the faint wintry sun, by giving 

 clearer and larger flowers, and finer foliage. 

 And as in the warmer and more sunny 

 countries it misses the shade of the big 

 rocks, it is often well to ^roup any of its 

 fine forms on the cool side of the rock- 

 garden. 



The following are some of the best- 

 known varieties of this fine plant : 



H. n. altifolius is the most vigorous of 

 the group. It is early in bloom, often 

 commencing to expand its flowers in 

 autumn. The flower stems are mottled 

 with red, and the backs of the petals 

 faintly rosy. 



St "Brigid's Christmas rose is a very 

 beautiful flower, the blossoms pure white, 

 and cupped in form. 



The Riverston variety is a very free- 

 blooming one. Its flower-stems are apple- 

 green, but the leaf-stalks are red-spotted, 

 the leaves themselves being of a pale 

 green. 



The Bath variety is the form perhaps 

 most generally in use for providing blooms 

 at Christmastide. It is larger and taller 

 than the type. 



H. n. Madame Fourcade is in habit of 

 growth not unlike H. n. altifolius, but 

 flowers a full month later, and the blooms 

 are whiter and more cup-shaped. 



These fine plants deserve a better fate 

 than they often meet with in gardens. 

 The full exposure of the ordinary plain, 

 and perhaps cold and wet soil, does not 

 always suit them. In the lowly moun- 

 tain valleys they come from, there are 

 " many mansions," so to say, and, although 

 the heat is greater than ours in summer, 

 the shades of the rocks often give them 

 relief, and there is the open, gritty soil, 

 and other advantages. In certain parts 

 of our country, where the natural soil is 

 warm and good, they do well, but in 

 others they fail, and require a well-made 

 soil that has plenty of sand or grit and 

 some leaf-mould. We may also have to 

 think of the aspect. I have known them 



succeed in the shade of walls when they 

 failed in the open. 



It is all the better to group them so that 

 as they flower in the middle of winter, 

 the flowers may be easily protected with 

 a few bell-glasses or hand-lights. 



Besides the true Christmas Rose, there 

 are other species of Helleborus well worthy 

 of cultivation ; and among the best is H. 

 atrorubens, with flowers of a dark purple. 

 The colour, though somewhat dull, by 

 turning up the usually pendent flower 

 is seen to greater advantage, being then 

 contrasted with the yellow stamens. It 

 has the quality of throwing its flowers 

 well above ground to a height of 9 to 12 

 inches, and is a free grower, but rather 

 scarce, requiring, as all the Hellebores do, 

 a considerable time to establish itself after 

 being disturbed. H. olympicus, with large 

 rose-coloured flowers, and good habit, is 

 very similar. H. argutifolius is remark- 

 able for its beautiful, whitish, trifoliate 

 leaves, each secondary vein being termin- 

 ated by a well-defined point. Its flowers 

 are a lively green, and come about the 

 month of March. 



Helleborus Hybrid (Lenten Lilies). 

 By far the most important group after 

 the true Christmas Rose, and its forms, 

 are the fine varieties raised in gardens, 

 the hardiest of them : from the bold and 

 free H. Orientalis, a native of Greece and 

 Asia Minor, and in some cases crossed 

 with other species. The spotted and 

 variously coloured forms raised in this 

 way are excellent, and, while quite dis- 

 tinct from the true Christmas Rose and 

 its forms, are more vigorous in growth, 

 and coming into flower at the end of 

 winter or dawn of spring, they open well 

 without protection in many parts of the 

 country. They are not nearly so difficult 

 about soil as H. Niger and its forms, 

 growing in any free and good soil in 

 many cases without any special making 

 of the soil, liking it deep. They do best 

 in partial shade in the southern countries. 

 Almost too vigorous for the choice parts 

 of the rock-garden, it is easy to place 

 them near its approaches among the 

 shrubs, or in a half-shaded wall approach- 

 ing. A great many beautiful varieties 

 have been raised in England, and also 



