86 



IRISH GARDENING. 



In a Small Rock Garden 



By a. B. Anderson, Saiulyniouni. 



Owing to the fact that the sun does not fall on 



my garden till nearly the end of February, my 



Alpine year does not begin till then. The lirst 



plant to bloom with me is Sax. oppositifolia 



Jatina; this is a robust and beautiful Italian form 



with large lilac-xiink flowers, which open qviite 



flat, and are very cheery in the early year; it is 



doing well in peaty moraines, wet and dry. A 



little later the type S. oppositifolia comes into 



bloom, and also a form called splendens, between 



which and the type I cannot see any difference : 



both grow well with nic in sandy soil in fidlsun. 



and cover 



the m selves 



with bloom ; tin- 



type specially 



has in the last 



two years been 



literally 



smothered witli 



bloom; it has 



been in its 



present ])osi- 



tion three 



years, and so 



far is showing 



no sign of that 



dying off in the 



centre to which 



it is said to be 



subject. I 



attribute this 



to a yearly 



top- dressing, 



but whether my 



theory t h a t 



this dying off 



is due to the 



absence of this 



I cannot yet 



say definitely. 



The last form 



to flower, at 



the end of 

 March, is Sax. 



oppositifolia coccinea (syn. W. A. Clarke), a form 

 found, I believe, originally in Wales, its growth is 

 much frailer than the type, and it does not flower so 

 freely with me, but this lack of flower is compensated 

 for by the extraordinary brilliance of the buds and 

 glowing purple-crimson flowers ; it is growing well 

 in very gritty soil in full sun. About the same 

 time the sweet little Sax. retiisa, with ruby buds 

 and starry ])ink flowers, makes a ju'etty show in 

 the wet moraine. I grew it originally in a dry 

 moraine, where it flowered fairly well, but I 

 noticed that at the beginning of August a large 

 number of bvxds formed, most of which, however, 

 dried up before winter. I attributed this to lack 

 of sufficient moisture, and so last autumn moved 

 it into the wet moraine to try and prevent this, for 

 if all these buds developed in spring it would be 

 a sheet of i^ink, whereas so far I have had to be 

 content with a somewhat sparse dis])lay from the 

 buds formed later in the autumn. This August 

 will, I hope, prove the correctness or otherwise of 

 this surmise. 



While on the question of Saxifrages I wish fo 



llELICHRYSUM BELLIDIOIDES AT MUCKLAGH, Co. WiCKLOW 



call special attention tcj two hybrids — Sax. 

 Borisii. with red buds and soft yellow flowers, and 

 Sax. Petraschii, with glistening white ones ; wee 

 tufts have flowered witli great freedoiu in sandy, 

 gritty loam, and the flowers in each case are of 

 good shape. 



Very early in March Primula Sibthorpii, which 

 in short is a lilac-])ink Primrose, started flowering 

 and is only just passing over ; it seems happy in 

 loamy soil ami sheltered from the sun by a rock. 

 It is a native of the Caucasus. 



To me the dwarf Narcissi always makes a special 

 appeal. N. cyclamineus starts the procession; in 

 sandy peat by the side of a little bog it has 

 flowered regularly for three years, and so I 

 conjecture it is getting established, and with a 

 pot full of seedlings in addition I fear nothing. 



It is usually 

 followed by N. 

 liu Iboc odium 

 •'Early Yellow" 

 which last year 

 flowered with 

 great freedom; 

 this year it is 

 either dying 

 or. I hope, on!}' 

 taking a rest ; 

 poor foliage 

 and no flowers. 

 Beautiful as it 

 is, I think it is 

 surpassed by 

 the for in 

 citrinus, which 

 after taking a 

 year's rest has 

 again delighted 

 me with flower- 

 ing. Of the 

 minor form of 

 X. Bulboco- 

 dium only one 

 out of three 

 original bulbs 

 remains, but 

 this is flower- 

 ing well, and 

 the type is 

 just sending up 

 buds. All these are in sandy peat near the 

 bog, but further up the bank than N. cyclamineus, 

 and so drier. The beautiful X. moschatus (of 

 Haworth) lias settled down in loam on the north 

 side of a rock, and has flowered freely for three 

 years. 



I do not like comparisons where all ai"e beautiful, 

 and will therefore only say that N. juncifolius is 

 a gem with the others; this in sandy gritty soil in 

 a crevice is doing well; the lirst year it did not 

 flower, last year it flowered freely witli one bloom 

 on each stem ; this year it has two or three blooms 

 on a stem. In addition to its other good points 

 it has an exquisite fragrance. 



These Narcissi seed freely if fertilised, and I 

 have several pots of vigorous seedlings. 



Indispensable for even the small rockery are 

 the Tulip species. I started with T. pulchella, 

 p. lycaonica, undulatifolia, saxatilis, clusiana, 

 persica, montana and llaageri nitens. Of these 

 T. saxatilis. ])ulchella and montana, after once 

 blooming, " went homo"; T. pulchella lycaonica 

 and undulatifolia are alive, but have not yet 



