58 



GARDENERS' CHRONiCLS 



A MINIATURE ROCK GARDEN 



'T' HE miniature rock garden reproduced in the illus- 

 tration occupies a space of 11 feet frontage by 9 

 feet in deptii, and was designed to provide an interesting 

 corner where a shrubbery border terminated. The water 

 pool which was an after-thought and included after the 

 rockery was built, measures a little over 4 feet. By means 

 of a service pipe dripping water serves to keep the little 

 pool furnished and gives a sense of coolness in the hot- 

 test weather. 



Courtesy Gardncis' Magazine (Eiiglhli 



Rock (iardening By the Side of a Drk\ 



THE CAUCASIAN SCABIOUS AND ITS 

 CULTURE 



'T'HE Caucasian Scabious, despite the knowledge that 

 ■*• there are those who. gardening with hardy plants 

 alone, say they are unable to cultivate it, is one of our 

 finest herbaceous plants. The belief that it is only 

 necessary to plant it in ordinary garden soils and ex- 

 pect the finest results is a mistake at the outset. As 

 a matter of fact, this particular species would appear 

 to abhor heavy retentive soils, though quite at home 

 in some of the stronger loams where these are 

 of a sandy nature and well drained. At the 

 same time, an even greater measure of success 

 follows its cultivation in light and warm soils, 

 and it ofifers no objection to those largely com- 

 posed of vegetable matter, or others of a peaty 

 nature. In a word, therefore, the plant may be 

 said to tlourish in light, well-drained soils in 

 preference to all others. If such as these are at 

 planting-time enriched by the addition of a good 

 layer of cow-manure a few inches below the base 

 of the plants, so much the better. 



Ill such circumstances the seedling plant will 

 make fine tufts in the course of a season, and in 

 turn yield in the following year a rich harvest 

 of flowers of which any gardener would feel 

 justly proud. In color, beauty and refinement 

 the Caucasian Scabious is one of the indispen- 

 sables. one that no good garden should be with- 

 out ; lience it is suggested that the soil be made 

 to suit the plant. The delicate lavender blue of 

 its flower? is quite a rarity in the garden at any 

 and few are more hiLiliK' prized in the cut state. 



Edwin Beckett, who developed this miniature 

 garden at the time of sending the ])hoto to Gar- 

 deners' Chronicle (English) stated that he was 

 prompted to do so in believing the idea might be 

 useful to owners of small gardens, eager to make 

 the most of them at little cost. 



ROCKWORK EDGINGS TO DRIVES 



l\" I'.ngland, years, ago, one often found a cer- 

 ■•■ tain kind of rock gardening adapted to the 

 margins of borders that skirted the driveways in 

 modest establishments. Especially was this the 

 case in gardens where the road ran at a lower 

 level than the border or borders, and mostly did 

 this method of gardening find favor where the 

 garden was laid out on a slope, and, conse(]uentl\ , 

 one side of the driveway was higher than the 

 other. The use of rockwork was, no doubt, pri- 

 marily, to act as a kind of retaining wall for the 

 high border or sloping bank, and then followed a 

 desire to clothe the rockwork with plants and flowers. 

 To the owner of a rock garden this method of culti- 

 vating plants is generally regarded with dignified disdain, 

 but to those who have not the room for a rock garden, 

 but who have a [wsition such as is suggested here, and 

 illustrated on page 58, this plan of beautifying the ap- 

 proaches to the house has much to recommend it. True, 

 the varied aspects and positions needed for a large col- 

 lection of alpines cannot be provided, but large numbers 

 of beautiful, even though fairly common, spring flowers 

 will thrive in such rockwork. Many dwarf subjects used 

 for spring bedding look more at home on rockwork 

 than on the flat. 



Courtesy Inirtinci s' Ma^i i . 



./ Miiiiiittire Kork Cardcit ctiid Water Pool. 



Apart from the important question of soil, that of 

 raising the plant periodically from seeds merits close 

 attention, for more than one reason. On light and 

 warm soils this handsome Scabious is usually a good 

 perennial. On heavy soils it is not so. Then, again, 

 because of its abundant and profuse flowering, the 

 stools become exhausted : hence the need for replac- 

 ing them with others of a more youthful and vigorous 

 nature. Seeds vegetate quickly and with comparative 

 certainty, and aflford the readiest means of propaga- 

 tion to amateur and professional alike. The seeds 



