454 



GARDENING FOR BEGINNERS 



NAME. 



COLOUR, AND 



TIME OF 

 FLOWERING. 



Helleborus niger (Christ- 

 mas Rose) 



White 



GENERAL REMARKS. 



early (October), and has 

 white or rose-tinted flowers 

 between 3 inches and 5 

 inches across, and three 

 flowers sometimes appear 

 on each stem. Atigusti- 

 folius, as the name sug- 

 gests, has narrow leaves ; 

 its flowers are very pure. 

 St. Brigid (syn. Juvernis] 

 has pale green leaves, 

 apple-green flower stems, 

 and very pure white, cup- 

 shaped flowers; it is not 

 so hardy as the others. 

 Major, or the Bath variety, 

 is a noble kind, and much 

 grown as a market flower. 

 It is a strong form of the 

 ordinary//, niger Rivers- 

 toniis a tall, strong plant, 

 with large, quite pure 

 white flowers on apple- 

 green stems. Apple Blos- 

 som, or H. n. carnea, has 

 dark stems and leaves and 

 flesh-tinted flowers. Those 

 who are interested in rais- 

 ing new forms should 

 cross - fertilise the best 

 flowers on a few plants, 

 and make a sowing of 

 seed every year. When 

 the seed is sown, as soon 

 as it is ripe, say in June, 

 the seedlings will appear 

 above ground during the 

 following March or April. 

 The young plants grow 

 freely, and flower from 

 the third to the fifth year 

 from seed. These seed- 

 ling plants are luxuriant, 

 and yield a larger propor- 

 tion of large and well- 

 shaped flowers than, as a 

 rule, the divided plants. 

 These flowers, although 

 freely visited by bees and 

 flies, rarely seed abun- 

 dantly unless cross - fer- 

 tilised with pollen from 

 other individual plants or 

 varieties. It is best to get 

 pollen - bearing flowers 

 from a friend's garden at 

 a distance, as the late 

 "St. Brigid always used 

 to do. 



The Lenten Roses are so 

 called because of their 



