580 GYPSOPHILA. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



HAIIRANTHUS. 



handsome nor so durable as the plumes of 

 female flowers. 



GYPSOPHILA. Plants of the Stitch- 

 wort family, the larger kinds usually very 

 elegant, and bearing myriads of tiny white 

 blossoms on slender spreading panicles. 

 Of these the best is G. paniculata, 

 which forms a dense compact bush, 3 ft. 

 or more high, the numerous flowers small 

 white, on thread-like stalks on much- 

 branched stems, with the light, airy effect 

 of certain Grasses, and very useful for 

 cutting. G. paniculata thrives in any 

 soil, and is suitable for borders and for 

 naturalisation in woods or banks. G. 

 fastigiata, perfoliata, altissima Steveni, are 

 very similar. G. prostrata is a pretty 

 species for the rock-garden or the mixed 

 border. It grows in spreading masses, 

 and from midsummer to September has 

 loose graceful panicles of small white or 

 pink flowers, on slender stems. G. 

 cerastioides is about 2 in. high, and has a 



Gypsophila cerastioides. 



spreading habit ; the leaves are about \\ 

 in. long, and small clusters of blossoms, 

 \ in. across, white with violet streaks. 

 It is from Northern India, and quite 

 unlike any of the group now in our 

 gardens, being dwarfer and having larger 

 flowers. It is a rapid grower, and in 

 good soil and an open position on the 

 rock-garden soon spreads into a broad 

 tuft. Division, seeds, or cuttings in spring. 

 G. elegans is a graceful feathery annual 

 much used for bouquets. 



HABENAEIA (Rein Orchis}. Terres- 

 trial Orchids from N. America, I to 2 ft. 

 high, some of which are pretty. For out- 

 door culture, a partially-shaded spot should 

 be prepared with about equal parts of leaf- 

 mould or peat and sand, and well mulched 

 with leaves, grass, or other material, to 

 "keep it moist. H. blephariglottis bears 

 in July spikes of white flowers beautifully 

 'fringed. H. ciliaris has bright orange- 



yellow flowers with a conspicuous fringe, 

 and appear from July to September. 

 H. fimbriata has a long spike of lilac- 

 purple flowers beautifully fringed. H. 

 psycodes bears spikes 4 to 10 in. long 

 of handsome and fragrant purple flowers. 

 They are charming plants for the bog- 

 garden. 



HABEELEA. //. rhodopensis is a 

 pretty little rock-plant resembling a 

 Gloxinia in miniature, forming dense tufts 

 of small rosettes of leaves, which somewhat 

 resemble those of the Pyrenean Ramondia 

 (R. pyrenaica), every rosette bearing in 

 spring one to five slender flower-stalks, 

 each with two to four blossoms nearly 

 i in. long, of a bluish-lilac colour with a 

 yellowish throat. Messrs. Frcebel of 

 Zurich, who grow it well, write of it : 

 " We have treated this plant in the same 

 manner as the Pyrenean Ramondia, i.e. 

 we have planted it on the north side of 

 the rock-garden ; so that the sun never 

 directly reaches it. We grow it in fibrous 

 peat, and fix the plants, if possible, in the 

 fissures of the rock-garden, so that its 

 rosettes hang in an oblique position, just 

 as they do in their native country. It 

 succeeds well in this way ; but if no rock- 

 garden be at hand, it may be grown 

 equally well on the north side of a 

 Rhododendron bed. \Ve have it thus 

 situated quite close to a stone edging a 

 way in which we also grow the Ramondia, 

 and the Haberlea flowers profusely 

 every year in May and June. The plant 

 is very hardy, having withstood our often 

 very hard winters, without any protection." 

 It is a native of the Balkan Mountains, 

 where it is found among moss and leaves 

 on damp, shady, steep declivities at high 

 elevations. 



HABEANTHUS. A brilliant bulb 



, of the Amaryllis family, hardy, at least 



in the southern and eastern parts of the 



i country. H. pratensis has stout and 



I erect flower-stems, about i ft. high, and 



! the brightest scarlet flowers, feathered 



I here and there at the base with yellow. 



The variety fulgens is the finest form. It 



blooms freely in the open border of the 



Rev. Mr. Nelson's garden at Aldborough, 



in Norfolk, flowering at the end of May 



or beginning of June. It grows very 



freely in strong loam improved by the 



addition of a little leaf-mould and sand. 



j Its propagation is too easy, for in many 



; soils it is said to split up into offsets 



! instead of growing to a flowering size. 



At Aldborough it made numerous offsets. 



A choice plant for the select bulb-garden 



or rock-garden. Chili. H. Andersoni is 



much inferior. 



