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GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



(OF AMERICA) 

 Devoted to the Science of Floriculture and Horticulture 



■ Vol. XXV 



JULY. 1921 



No. 7 



Things and Thoughts of the Garden 



MONTAGUE FREE 



THE present is perhaps as good a time as any to 

 continue the discussion of the lesser-known rock 

 plants, so we will proceed to give a little more atten- 

 tion to some of those that, for lack of space, were uncere- 

 moniously dismissed with few words in last month's 

 article. 



The Sandworts are fairly well represented in Northern 

 and Alpine regions. The Mountain Sandwort. Arcnaria 

 montana, perhaps the showiest of the genus, and cer- 

 tainly possessing the largest flowers, cannot be con- 

 sidered as a lesser-known rock plant, for it is widely 

 grown both as a border plant and in rock gardens. But 

 there is a species, A. grocnlandica, not so well known, 

 that is found on mountain summits in Eastern North 

 America. Greenland and Labrador and other cool locali- 

 ties that should be in every collection. It forms tiny 

 bright-green cushions made up of tightly packed shoots 

 clothed with narrow leaves. The flowers are white and 

 freely produced, and attain a height of two or three 

 inches. It is supposed to be an annual, but comes up 

 from year to year in pots in the cold frame without 

 any particular care. Strangely enough, considering its 

 habitat, it seems to require some attention in order to 

 maintain it in the rock garden. A similar species is 

 found in Scandinavia and goes under the name of 

 A. norz'egica. This, according to our recollection, forms 

 looser tufts than the preceding, but is equally dw^arf and 

 has somewhat larger flowers. I'uder cultivation it seems 

 to l>ecome an annual in habit, although it is described 

 as Ijeing a hardy evergreen. We had it growing in the 

 rock garden here for several years in succession, but 

 it has not showd up this season. Whether it took ofifense 

 because of being neglected or whether the mild Winter 

 was inimical to its constitution, it is impossible to say. 

 It is worthy of more attention than it receives from us, 

 ■ but when a plant here shows signs of being able to care 

 for itself it is allowed to do so and available lalxir is 

 concentrated on the less capable and more miffy plants. 



The most desirable menil>er of the genus from the 

 gardening standpoint does not take at all kindly to our 

 climate. This is a southerner from the I'aJearic Islands, 

 A. balearica. It forms a living cloth of brightest green, 

 mantling the rocks, and, in Spring, is spangled with 

 innumerable tiny white blooms which seldom attain a 

 height of more than an inch or two. In l'"ngland, in 

 CM many rock gardens, it is looked upon as a weed, allx?it 

 ^ a l>eautiful one, so rapidly does it take possession of the 

 _^^ <|u;u-ters assigned it, and those of others in the bargain. 

 I lere in Rrooklvn it has survived Winters when carried 



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over in a cold frame — not in the pans of soil in which 

 it was planted, but in the surrounding ashes to which 

 it had rambled. As a general thing plants that are not 

 hardy should not be allowed in the rock garden, but the 

 Balearic Sandwort is so intriguing in its green and 

 pearly beauty that an e.xception must be made in its 

 favor. It can be raised from seeds sow'u in February 

 in a cool greenhouse and transferred to the rock garden 

 in April, where it should be planted in stony soil on the 

 north side of a rock so that it may be encouraged to 

 ramble in characteristic fashion. 



* * * 



So far as is known, not nuich has been done in North 

 America with the alpine representatives of the Wind- 

 flowers. The most delightful of these is Anenwne ver- 

 nalls, and we take the liberty of quoting, in part, Farrar's 

 description of this wonderful little mountaineer as given 

 in "The English Rock Garden" : 'Tt is on the highest 

 alpine grasses that you will coiue upon the Lady of the 

 Snow. Spread out flat upon the ground, still sere and 

 bare with the passing Winter, lie pressed the two or 

 three carroty leaves, more coarsely and sparingl}- cut 

 than in any Pulsatilla ; ne.xt, an inch or two of stem ; 

 shaggy with fur of bronzy gold, a fluft'y frill of the 

 same, and then, almost sitting upon the moor, like some 

 mystic water lily, a great goblet-shaped flower, staring 

 up to the sun, white as an opalescent pearl within, and 

 tasseled with fire, while the outside of the pearl is 

 a-shinuner with gold and \ iolet silk, iridescent as it 

 catches the sun in countless shifting shades of lilac and 

 milk. * * At the same time, truth must be told : 



in lower .stations, and in later stages, the stem is longer, 

 and the blossom looks correspondingly smaller; worst 

 of all, the Lady of the Snow clings so desperately to her 

 departing beauties that she will not let them go, nor 

 confess to growing old. The blossom fades, but never 

 fails, the pearly skin turns into a withered hag's, till 

 in the end that once peerless loveliness takes a blowzy 

 and disreputable look, like some raddled and unreverend 

 dowager in a chestnut wig; while her cousin, .\lpina. 

 more wise, is advancing honestlv into the full beauty 

 of old age, and reaping the reward of its honorable 

 silver heads." 



It has the reputation of being a rather hopeless "miff," 

 but this .Spring we have raised some strong seedlings 

 which appear to be quite comfortable and look as though 

 they might bloom next year. It is advisable to knock 

 wood at tills juncture, as one can never be sure of the 

 behavior of some of these cantankerous alpines. 



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