!;2 



IRISH GARDENING 



any collection. In dift'erent gardens, of course, 

 different plants will prove the most free, but in 

 a general wa\^ we may set doWn as the easiest 

 of the lot — " ausserst dankbare 8orten," as the 

 catalogues say— aj^iculata, apiculata alba, 

 Elizabethae, sancta, and junii)erifolia. The 

 first two of these are, for general purposes, the 

 best of all the Kal)schias. growing freely in any 

 sunny, Avell-drained soil, and soon forming 

 plump, spiny, dark green cushions, and being 

 also rehable flowerers, covering themselves each 

 year in February and March, the one with soft 

 primrose yellow, the other with white blossoms. 

 If I were allow ed only two Kabschias I would 

 stick to these two. Next may be placed the 

 hybrid Eliza])ethae (sancta x Burseriana), 

 which has -like apiculata soft yellow flowers, 

 but with a pretty reddish tinge on the stems, 

 inherited from its Burseriana parent. It pro- 

 duces large dark green cushions, rather closer 

 than those of apiculata, and would be a perfect 

 plant were it -not for its irregularity as regards 

 fiowering. 8ome years it is a joy with its wealth 

 of blossoms, but in other years flowers are rare 

 or absent. This feature it takes, no doubt, from 

 its other parent sancta, which is a rather shy 

 bloomer. .Sancta forms large cushions of a 

 peculiarly dark green colour, and bears flowers 

 of a deep rich yellow, less conspicuous than those 

 of the most of the Kabschias on account of the 

 smaller size of the petals and the fact that they 

 do not expand widely. When it blossoms well it 

 is a striking plant, but its flowers are generally 

 scarce. Last of the five, juniperifoUa need only 

 be mentioned as a plant to avoid. .Season after 

 season its healthy dark green cushions remain 

 undecked by a single blossom ; and when a 

 flower does come it is a poor thing of a dull 

 yellow. All of these are long-hved plants ; 

 clumps in my garden of from eight to ten years 

 old are growing away merrily, showing no' sign 

 of decrepitude. 



Next in order, still keeping ease and per- 

 manence in cultivation in the forefront, I would 

 place .Salomoni. another Burseriana hybrid 

 (Burseriana x Rocheliana). This is a delightful 

 plant, retaining the grey foliage and red stems 

 of Burseriana, but bearing smaller flowers, 

 several together on the summit of taller slender 

 stems. While not a very abundant flowerer, it 

 is one of the most valuable of Kabschias, and 

 a right good grower. I have a plant eight year 

 old and over a foot across, which as yet shows 

 no sign of dying off in the middle, as so many 

 of the Kabschias do after the first few years. 

 Another excellent .Saxifrage which has grown 

 with me now for nine years without showing any 

 sign of dying off is the hybrid L. G. Godseiff 

 (sancta x Burseriana speciosa) an Elizabethae- 



like plant with reddish stems and yellow flowers, 

 borne in clusters ; the flowers are not nearly so 

 good a . those of Elizabethae, but it is a much 

 more reliabh; l)lossomer, being covered with 

 flowers every season. 



Then we come to a large grouj) of sjjccies 

 which, at least in my garden (which, I think, 

 may be taken as an average one), seldom last 

 more than five years or so, before or after 

 which period they turn yellowish and slowly 

 die, just as they have formed a reall}' 

 satisfactory cushion six to nine iiiches 

 across. 



Among these the best groAvers include 

 Saxifraga marginata, a vigorous 2)lant Avith fine 

 solid Avhite blossoms ; Rocheliana (see illustra- 

 tion) and its variety coriophylla, both excellent 

 whites ; dalmatica, an abundant white flowerer ; 

 and the delightful caesia, with tiny strap-shajied 

 reflexed leaves and very late white blossoms on 

 Aviry stems. Then, of course, no rock garden 

 is complete without some of the forms of the 

 Avell-knoAvn Burseriana ; the large flowered 

 forms of this are perfectly glorious, but the 

 one Avhich has lasted best with me is the pretty 

 little late variety minor. Among the yellows, the 

 lovely hybrid Boj^dii and its still finer offspring 

 Faldonside (illustrated) are real treasixres, 

 though inclined to be difficult and short-lived ; 

 and the tiny Ferdinandi Coburgi, with its intense 

 yellow blossoms, is a joy — Avhen Avell 

 grown. 



What makes np for the comparatively short 

 life of these delightful plants is the ease with 

 Avhich they can be propagated. With the i)oint 

 of a blunt penknife one can detach tiny single 

 shoots from the edge of even a small clump 

 which are often already rooted, and if not are 

 quite ready to strike. Pot these iip singly in 

 2-inch jiots in fine sandy stuff, and they Avill 

 come straight ahead. With one or two. parti- 

 cularly Boydii, groAvth is so slow, and the 

 cushion in conseqiu'nce so dense, that it is not 

 easy to detach anything ; but this difficulty is 

 rare. Even with the tiniest species, such as 

 Tombeanensis, squarrosa, and Vandellii, fresh 

 plants can without difficulty be raised from 

 minute divisions, no larger than a sjilit 

 pea. 



Many other lovely little plants must be left 

 unmentioned, since my ol)ject in these notes has 

 been to draw attention to the best groAvers, 

 rather than to choice plants which are difficidt 

 or short-hved. To my mind there is greater joy 

 in a vigorous happy clump, Avhich is a glor}' of 

 blossom every spring, than in a treasure Avhich 

 has to be Avatched anxiously through the seasons, 

 even though the floAvers of the latter may be 

 choicer. 



