228 GARDENING FOR BEGINNERS 



in winter ; the flowers are made up of long, narrow, wavy, golden yellow 

 petals, with a reddish-coloured calyx. We enjoy a tree in full bloom in 

 January and February, when the brown leafless shoots are covered with 

 golden blossom. A recently introduced species from Central China, 

 named mollis, makes a valuable addition to early -flowering shrubs. It 

 differs from the last named in being of slower growth, possessing deeper 

 coloured flowers and larger leaves ; it is very free. The Witch Hazels 

 are deciduous and blossom while the branches are leafless. Provide 

 a suitable background, without which much of the beauty of these 

 delightful shrubs is destroyed. Soil consisting of loam and leaf -mould, 

 with the addition of a few lumps of broken peat, suits them admirably ; 

 but special attention must be paid to drainage, because if water is allowed 

 to lodge about the roots the trees soon get unhealthy. 



Hedysarum multijugum is a valuable shrub of the pea family. 

 It flowers long after the majority of shrubs and trees, and requires a 

 sandy soil, good drainage, and sunny position. When in happy circum- 

 stances it grows four feet or five feet high, and has purplish-coloured 

 flowers in long racemes, usually from midsummer to the middle of 

 September, and in very fine seasons the display is continued to the early 

 part of October. 



Helianthemums (Sun Roses). Dwarf-growing evergreen plants, 

 thoroughly hardy and very useful for planting on dry sunny banks or as 

 edgings to low-growing shrubs. They flourish best in sandy soil, arid 

 should never be planted in cold sunless positions. Good drainage is of 

 immense importance, as Sun Roses are never a success in cold water- 

 logged soil. H. vulgare and its single and double-flowered forms are 

 very free and adapted for the rock-garden. H. formosum, from Por- 

 tugal, has bright yellow flowers blotched with reddish-purple. It grows 

 about three feet high and is very free. 



Hibiscus. Few thoroughly hardy-flowering shrubs are more beau- 

 tiful in autumn than the forms of Hibiscus, or Shrubby Althaeas as they 

 are sometimes called. No soil seems too bad for them, and they blossom 

 profusely in partial shade as well as in exposed situations. H. syriacus 

 (Syrian Mallow) forms a round-headed bush six feet to eight feet in 

 height, and at the end of summer bears masses of purplish flowers 

 blotched with crimson. The under-mentioned are a few of the best 

 varieties : Painted Lady is very conspicuous ; flowers large, delicate rose, 

 with large red blotches at the base of each petal. Totus albus is a remark- 

 ably pretty and distinct pure white free-flowering variety ; should be far 

 more popular. The flowers are smaller than those of the type. Ccelestis 

 is a dainty variety, with medium-sized, bright blue flowers blotched with 

 purple. The flowers of puniceus plenus are semi-double, rosy-purple 

 with a deep purple base, and those of c&rulea plena, also double or 

 semi-double, are mauve with a purple base. 



Hippophse rhamnoides (Sea Buckthorn) is one of the finest of 

 berry-bearing shrubs for winter effect. It is very cheap and perfectly 

 hardy. Although usually considered a seaside shrub only it can be 

 recommended for inland planting, and if grown in masses near the edge 

 of water the effect in winter, when the long shoots are smothered 



