IRISH GARDENING 



VOLUME VI. 



No. 67 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE 



ADVANCEMENT OF HORTICULTURE AND 



ARBORICULTURE IN IRELAND 



SEPTEMBER 

 1911 



Alpines for Exhibition 



By W. H. Paine, F.R.H.S. 



aT the spring- show of the R. H. S. of families that will be in flower at that time, the 



AA Ireland last year a cup was offered for most popular among which are the Primulas. 



a table of Alpines, and encouraging as Primula rosea, and its varieties grandiflora 



were the exhibits, for the first occasion, there and splendens, should be grown in the open 



was criticism among experts as to whether that ground during the summer, and when the 



method of showing was the 

 severest test for the culture of 

 Alpine plants. As a result, 

 another cup was presented, by 

 five enthusiasts in this branch 

 of plant lore, to the R. H. S., 

 and to be duly competed for, 

 the first time next year. 



The following article is to 

 make clear, to probable ex- 

 hibitors, what is really meant, 

 in this competition, by truly 

 Alpine plants. It is hard to 

 define a line of deniarkation of 

 what is, and what is not, an 

 Alpine. 



The following description has 

 been adopted by the R. H. S. 

 for the interpretation of the 

 word Alpine : — 



"That the word 'Alpine,' as 

 understood in this competition, 

 includes diminutive, deciduous, 

 and evergreen herbaceous 

 plants, such as are generally 

 used in modern Alpine g-ar- 

 dening." 



Now, it will be noticed that 

 this at once strikes out diminu- 

 tive, hard-wooded plants, such as Polygala 

 chamaebuxus and Erica carnea. So intending 

 exhibitors will be wise to exhibit nothing of 

 this nature. 



leaves begin to decay in the 

 autumn they should be panned 

 up in the pan they are intended 

 10 be shown, pressing the 

 crowns as close together as 

 possible to get a massed effect 

 when in flower. A liberal 



amount of leaf-soil should be 

 used in the composition in 

 which they are planted. Then 

 the pans should be taken out 

 and plunged to the rims in sand 

 in some shady aspect, or, better 

 still, in a damp, boggfy situa- 

 tion, and before the winter 

 frosts come on the pans should 

 be covered with half-decayed 

 leaves to a depth of one 

 inch. 



Primula frondosa should be 

 panned in August, getting as 

 many plants as possible into the 

 pan, using equal proportions of 

 sand and leaf-soil as the rooting- 

 medium. This plant can be 

 treated the same as rosea, with 



[Albrietia by the WATERsmE .AT the exception that gritty sand 

 Ti LLY should be used as a protecting 



medium instead of leaves. 

 Primula spectabilis, P. calycina, P. alpina, P. 

 Mrs. G. F. Wilson, and P. marginata, being all 

 evergreen plants, require different treatment. 

 They are more or less a dry-loving section 

 I propose to deal with the most important which require a well-drained soil, and the longer 



