HYACINTHUS. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



HYDRANGEA. 



595 



in rich light soil for two or three years, 

 will produce many flowering bulbs, but, 

 as a rule, imported ones are stronger. 

 However carefully cultivated in England, 

 they seldom flower again so well as in the 

 first season, but it is a mistake to throw 

 them away, as many people do. Selections 

 for bedding in distinct colours of red, 

 yellow, white, blue, or mixed are to be 

 bought cheap. 



H. azureus. One of the earliest as well 

 as the most charming of our early spring 

 flowers. Indeed, one of its chief charms 

 lies in the fact of its producing its numerous 

 dense heads of pretty azure blooms long 

 before we have ceased to expect falls of 

 snow. Many a time have I gone in quest 

 of flowers when the ground was white with 

 its winter covering and have only been 

 able to obtain flowers of this and some 

 Snowdrops and Crocuses. In the case of 

 a dwarf bulb of this kind flowering so 

 early a handlight or bell-glass is simply 

 placed over the clump on the approach of 

 a storm, taking the cover off when all 

 danger is past. The flowers stand any 

 amount of frost without injury, and it is 

 only the chance of their being broken 

 with snow that renders a covering neces- 

 sary. H. azureus is one of those half-way 

 types that one finds so often in the Lily 

 order. It has the habit, appearance, and 

 many of the characters of a Muscari, with 

 the campanulate flowers of a Hyacinth. 

 It was first brought to the Vienna Botanic 

 Garden by Kotschy in 1856, and it was 

 some years after before it was in cultiva- 

 tion in England. The bulb is whitish, 

 round, an inch or so in diameter, produc- 

 ing in great abundance stolons or bulbils I 

 from the base ; the leaves, in number 

 from six to eight to a bulb, are broad, strap- 

 shaped, glaucous, and deeply channelled ; 

 the flower-heads dense, conical, upper 

 flowers sky-blue, campanulate, the lower 

 deep azure blue, and larger than those of 

 the ordinary Grape Hyacinth. It is an 

 excellent plant for the rock-garden, and 

 even in situations where it gets densely 

 shaded by overhanging plants. 



H. amethystinus, though nearly 

 related to H. azureus, is quite different, 

 and flowers a month later and at a time 

 when there is a dearth of flowers of this 

 description in the hardy bulb-garden. It 

 is one of the very old plants, and although 

 cultivated by M-iller as early as 1759, it 

 was until recently a scarce plant. The 

 great mistake with a bulb like this is to 

 have two or three or even a dozen in a 

 clump. Instead of the dozen it should be 

 grown by the hundred, and no prettier 

 sight can well' be imagined than a large 



sheet of this graceful Hyacinth, with its 

 loose racemes of vivid amethyst flowers. 

 Its pleasing flowers are produced in May 

 and June, when there is little chance of 

 their being disfigured by frosts. Spain 

 and Italy. D. K. 



H. candicans. See GALTONIA. 



HYDRANGEA. Handsome flowering 

 shrubs, some well known in gardens, 

 others neglected. In warm districts and 

 on good warm soils it would be well 

 worth while to grow many of the rarer 

 and finer forms of the common Hydrangea, 

 which always flowers best in seashore 

 districts where its shoots are not cut 

 down by frost or by the knife every winter. 



H. Hortensia. The common Hydran- 

 gea (H. Hortensia), from China, may be 

 grown well out-of-doors, but is not 

 always satisfactory in the midlands and 

 the north, being liable to injury in winter. 

 It likes a sheltered yet sunny spot and 



Hyacinthus amethystinus. 



good soil. In order to get good heads of 

 bloom, the Hydrangea must be pruned so 

 as to induce the growth of strong shoots. 

 In favoured spots it reaches a height of 

 6 ft., and as much through, making a 

 beautiful object on a lawn or in the 

 shrubbery margin. From time to time, 

 and especially in recent years, other forms 

 have been introduced and described, some 

 of them as distinct species. Dr. Maxi- 

 mowicz, who has had opportunities of 

 studying them in European and Japan- 

 ese gardens, and also in a wild state, 

 arranges the following forms under H. 

 Hortensia : 



(a] H. Hortensia acuminata. A 

 much-branched shrub, 2 to 5 ft. high ; 

 flowers blue. It sports according to 

 locality, and Maximowicz enumerates 

 four such sports, viz.: In open places and 

 in a rich soil it is stouter,. with erect thick 

 Q Q 2 



