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IRISH GARDENING 



Early Spring in the Rock Garden 



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'I'llls y.MI- w ha\ 

 \\ ft wiutt-r. I'ul ;il 

 writing'. 



Yi't. n..t\vitlist;m.lini: tin- lirav> .-.rul prisisf mt 

 wiutor rains, (lie rock uardm has n><\ suIT.t.mI. 

 LlikH'tl soiiu- plants s.-.-in to he the lu-tti-r (m- it. 

 (u'uliana vcrna iiiwst liavc <'UJov«'(l tlic soakiim. 

 It ha.s hiTu plautcil for four y.-ars. and cadi year 

 it sprcails a little and arrows more rohust. One 

 piece, alioiit four inches across, lias twenty -seven 

 llowers on it. and most of them are an int-h in 

 diameter. Its ma^nilicent hlue is the '^Un'y of the 

 spring rock garden, and is si't olT hy a carpet of 

 Androsace sarnientosa ^'rowin^: on a slope just 

 heyond the gi-ntian. 



In manv gardens this gentian icl'iisrs to mnw 

 and has td he constantly renewed and .o. Idled in 

 various ways. One successfid gardeiiei' ncum- 

 mends that it should he protected in winter liy a 

 glass. This may he a necrssitx in ;in im|iure 

 atmosphere, hut is the opposite ol' the nalui-al 

 conditions under which it grows wild in the West 

 of Ireland. Tliere it is deluged with rain for llie 

 greater i)art of the year, hut the natural diainage 

 is good. Pure air. sun, i)lenty of nioisture witli 

 ])erfect drainage are some of its requirements : 

 without these it is not likely to flourish, but given 

 tliese things it i)robably is of no great consequence 

 whether the garden is on limestone or granite. 

 ruri(nisly enough I have had more diflficulty with 

 (ieutiana acaidis. which is. generally si)eaking. 

 the easier of the two. Out of four or live jilaces 

 in which it has been tried the only one in which 

 it is really flourishing is on the sunnie.st part of the 

 moraine. 



The comparatively new Androsace hedroeantha 

 flowered very early. It is a dainty little i)lant, 

 with foliage akin to lactea and rose coloured 

 flowers. Androsace lactea came into flower 

 during Ai)ril, and the strong, healtliv looking 

 tufts will iirohably continue to throw" up fresh 

 blossoms all through the summer. It may 

 exhaust itself sometimes owing to its prodigality 

 in the way of flowers, but it sets seed freely. 

 There is more than one form of Androsace villosa. 

 The best one has small woolly-looking rosettes, 

 with very solid white flowers, w^hich have an 

 orange-red eye. It increases somewhat slowly 

 and laterally. Another form that I have is a more 

 rol)ust grower, being like A. arachnoidea. Both 

 are full of bloom, and contrast well with the bright 

 T'ose of A. Chumbyi. All tliese like a good loam 

 ke])t ojien with sand and sniall stones: the 

 surface should be well covered with chijjs of 

 limestone or granite, and they should be pro- 

 tected from the winter rains by a i)ane of glass. 

 Petrocallis i)yrenaica turns rusty looking in the 

 winter, and also enjoys ])rotection from the rains 

 at that time ; then come some dry sunny days 

 in March, and in a very short time it dons a 

 bright green coat and is smothered with its tiny 

 flowers. It is a sun-lover, and likes plenty of 

 grit in the soil ; indeed in most gardens it is a 

 plant for the moraine. 



Shortia galacifolia was i)enurit)us in the matter 

 of flowers this spring, but to make u]) for that 

 it is throwing u]) any quantity of new leaves and 

 is the picture of health. 



]V[orisia hypogea, with its bright yellow flowers, 

 is one of the most beantiful of the A])ril |)lants. 



It do.-s best in 111.- |.,illial shaih- ,,{ r. ..ks. .-, ud th." 

 soil sh..uld n.d I..- 1-i.li. W'h.-n it has made a 

 go,.d.siz.Ml tuft it .Ji.Mil,! I„. l,-,k.-n up. after 

 llowering. di\i<leil ,-iri.l t h.- s.-|i;ir-ale rosettes 

 r.'pl-'iit.-d. II is ..II.- ..J- Ih.- .-.isi.-st ..I pl.uils to 

 .li\i.l.-. as .-a.-h i-os.-tt,- ,-oines awa\ u il h a ...iii- 

 pl.-l.- s.-t ..r r,..,|s. 



S.-i\ili-.-i-,i Inii-s.-i-iaii.i (.I,,ii,i .'in, I sp.-.-iosa 



hi. i.-.l \.-i-\ li-.-.-lv. hut u.i-.- ,.\.i- l„.f.,i-.- III.- 



■Man-h .'iiuinoxt-s. A plant w hi.h I iia.l un.i.-r 

 the name of hui's.-i-i.ina in.-ij..!- w.is iiiii.h l.-il.-r. 



blooming at the end ..f \|.iil' with II .iili.-i- r.-.l 



mossies. The foliage is pale in .-.il..iir. \.-i-\ dwarl 

 and s(|uat. but the lilo.s.soms ai-.- hig .-in.'i s..li.!. 

 (luite as good as (iloi-ia was. 



Saxifrag<'s luarginata and .-.>ri.>ph>lla. g.x.d 

 sized lieiilljjy patches, liave sh.iwn no sign of 

 (lowei-ing this spring. 



Til.' red mos.sies Clihiani. (iloria and (Juildford 

 Seedling have been ex<ellent. and none of them 



is shaggly or coarst Wallacei. as usual, is .-i 



mass of bi-illiant. glistening white. 



The hoi summer of last year, follow.il h\ a wft 

 winter, seems to havi' .suited all the sMverv 

 Saxifrages — never has there been smh a jiroinise 

 of bloom, from tiny minima to giant longifolia and 

 cotyledon pvi-amidalis. as there is now. 



In a Small Rock Garden 



In May there are so many plants in flower, even 

 in a small garden, that it is only possible to 

 speak of a few^ of them. The sight of Aquilegia 

 glandiUosa connng into bloom invites one to 

 write a few words about this most beautiful 

 species. Knowing it to be a somewhat diHicult 

 ])lant to grow. I decided to raise seedlings and 

 ex])eriment with them in difl'erent jiarts of the 

 garden. I obtained seed from its classical honie, 

 Torres, in 1913, and tlie resulting seedlings were 

 planted in various soils aiul asjiects. Ijast year 

 two plai\ts flowered in a ])artiallv shaded ])eat 

 bed. but the peal of which this bed is composed 

 is somewhat light, and dries up in the summer: 

 as a result tliese and several other ])lants in the 

 same bed died in the drought, and in this bed I 

 now have only two invalid survivors and one or 

 two self-sown seedlings. Plants in sandy loam 

 and also in heavy loam do no n^ore than exist. 

 Others on a ridge of ])eat and loam look liai)i)y. 

 hut have not yet flowered. My successful jilants. 

 now coming into bloom, are in heavy limy loam 

 in a sunken bed al)out <> inches below the path 

 level here, partially sheltered from sun and w iiul : 

 three ])lants are coming into flower, in addition 

 the new foliage is coming stronger than ever, so 

 I now have hopes that A. glandulosa is going to 

 stay with me. The flowers are of a w^ondrous 

 beauty, soft blue and white, full and amjile in 

 shape, and worthy of any elTort to obtain. 



Another Columbine that I find very attractive 

 is A. flabellata, a .Japanese species, with beautiful 

 foliage of soft glaucous green and semi -erect 

 flowers, white faintly tinged with green. It 

 seems quite happy in any soil, ])eat, loani, and 

 even very sandy and gritty loam, but in all i)laces 

 where it is doing well it is low down, thus obtain- 

 ing plenty of moisture : last winter some of the 

 crowns suffered with the excessive wet, but the 

 ])lants are bravely shooting forth again now. 



The effect of the excessive rain last winter in 

 my garden, which is sunless from November to 



