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HEI.IOPHILA. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



HELI.EBORUS. 



cultivated. The most important garden 

 plants are H.macranthum and H. bractea- 

 tum. They are generally treated as an- 

 nuals, and, unless exceptionally well man- i 

 aged by being sown early under glass, they 

 commence flowering so late that the best j 

 period for laying on the brightest colours j 

 is lost, and early frosts find them just 

 approaching their best. They are par- 

 ticularly suited for background plants on 

 dry borders. If they are sown in pans or 

 boxes where they can be slightly protected 

 during winter, and are planted out early 

 in April, they have a chance of producing 

 a good crop of flowers for drying. The 

 colours vary from deep crimson to yellow 

 and white. The hardy perennials are 

 not important, and seldom succeed. H. 

 orientale, which furnishes the Immortelle 

 of the French, flowers poorly except in 

 very hot seasons. None of the other hardy 

 kinds are worth growing, except perhaps 

 H. arenarium, which has bright golden- 

 yellow flowers. 



HELIOPHILA. Small and pretty 

 Cruciferous annuals. H. araboides is a 

 pretty blue annual, of which occasional use 

 might be made, being dwarf, and free in 

 growth and flower. Another kind is H. 

 pilosa. 



HELIOTKOPIUM (Cherry />*>). A 

 great favourite for flower gardens on ac- 

 count of its delicate fragrance. For the 

 flower garden spring-struck plants are the 

 best. It is a good plan to lift a few plants 

 from the beds in September, winter them 

 in a warm greenhouse, and in spring to 

 put them in a warm place, where they will 

 soon produce plenty of. cuttings. These 

 cuttings may be struck on slight heat like 

 Verbenas, potted on, made to grow 

 rapidly, so as to be fit to plant out at 

 the end of May when danger of frost is 

 past. Heliotropes may be raised from | 

 seed and flowered the same year in fact, j 

 treated as annuals. Sown early in Feb- 

 ruary or the beginning of March they 

 become sturdy little plants before planting j 

 time. When bedded out they should be 

 placed in good dry soil. The following | 

 are good varieties, and new varieties are 

 raised from time to time : Anna Turrell, 

 General Garfield, Roi des Noirs, Triomphe 

 de Liege, and the old H. peruvianum, 

 which many like from its associations if 

 for no other reason. Heliotropes, though 

 quiet in colour, are charming flower- 

 garden plants, either when grown for 

 their own sakes as simple masses or when 

 associated with tall plants which grow 

 above them. 



HELLEBORUS (Christmas Rose}. 

 One of the most valuable classes of hardy ] 



perennials we have, as they flower in the 

 open air when there is little else in bloom. 

 They appear in succession from October 

 till April, beginning with the Christmas 

 Rose (H. niger), and ending with the 

 handsome crimson kinds. The old white 

 Christmas Rose is well known and much 

 admired, but the handsome kinds with 

 coloured flowers have, hitherto, not been 

 much known. Recently too there have 

 appeared some really beautiful hybrids, 

 which add a great deal of beauty to our 

 winter and spring garden, for their flowers 

 withstand the \vinter, and their verdure 

 and the vigorous growth of their leaves 

 distinguish them throughout the year. 



The Hellebores, besides being excellent 

 border flowers, are suited for naturalising. 

 There are a few kinds those with incon- 

 spicuous flowers, but handsome foliage 

 whose only place is the wild garden, such 

 as the native H. fcetidus, H. lividus, viridus, 

 and H. Bocconi, which have elegant foliage 

 when well developed in a shady place 

 in rich soil, like that usually found in 

 woods. The Hellebores may be classed 

 in three groups, according to the colour 

 of the flowers those with white flowers, 

 those with red, and those with green, 

 which last will get little place in the 

 garden. The white-flowered group is 

 the most important, as it contains the 

 beautiful old Christmas Rose. 



H. niger is a well-known kind, scarcely 

 needing description. It may be recognised 

 at once by its pale green smooth leathery 

 leaves, divided into seven or nine seg- 

 ments, 3 to 6 in. long and I to 2 in. broad. 

 The flowers, which are usually borne 

 singly on stems 6 in. long, are about 3 in. 

 across, and vary from a waxy-white to a 

 delicate blush tint. The variety minor 

 is smaller in every part, and is also known 

 as H. angustifolius. H. altifolius, though 

 sometimes considered a variety of H. 

 niger, is a distinct kind, and much larger 

 than H. niger. It has leaf-stalks over I ft. 

 long, and blossoms 3 to 5 in. across which 

 are borne on branching steins, each stem 

 bearing from two to seven flowers, which 

 have a stronger tendency to assume a rosy 

 hue than the ordinary kind. Another 

 characteristic is that the leaf and flower 

 stems are beautifully mottled with purple 

 and green, while in H. niger they are of 

 a pale green. H. altifolius also flowers 

 much earlier in some seasons in the 

 beginning of October. It has been known 

 a long time under the names of H. niger 

 var. major, maximus, giganteus, and 

 grandiflorus. 



Other white kinds are H. olympicus a 

 tall slender species with cup-shaped bios- 



