IRISH GARDENING. 



119 



The Rock Garden. 



CoNSiDERiNt; the long si)ell of dnjught the 

 display of flowers on the rock garden lias been 

 astonishing, and up to the time of writing (15tli 

 July) this part of the garden has seldom been 

 more attractive. Campanulas have held sway, 

 and surely there is no more charming genus 

 at this time. All sorts and sizes have flowered 

 profusely, and attracted much attention. The 

 ])ietty little C. arvatica, formerly known as 

 (V aeutangula, has been a ])erfect carpet of blue. 

 The old and well-known 6. G. F. Wilson, with 

 its deep blue nodding flowers hiding the leaves, 

 made a glorious mass. C. carpatica Ditton 

 Blue is a fine form of the Carpathian Bell- 

 flower, while C. garganica hirsuta, with its 

 hairy leaves and pale blue flowers, always 

 pleases, as does its pure white variety. Camp- 

 nnula Hillside Blue, a robust erect growing 

 carpatica form or hybrid, is one of the best 

 plants for the rockery or front of the herbaceous 

 border; growing from a foot to fifteen inches 

 liigh, it bears masses of good blue flower from 

 July onwards into the autumn. In the moraine 

 C. Tommasiniana is now a rounded mass of its 

 \\-iry stems clothed with narrow, slightly 

 tootlied, leaves, and bearing on each shoot from 

 6 to 9 of its long slender flowers. Near by it, 

 C. excisa is doing well, but often suffers in 

 winter, sometimes disappearing entirely. The 

 true C. Raineri is one of the most attractive 

 of all bellflowers, hardly exceeding a couple of 

 inches in height when in flower, and by means 

 of its rhizomes forming quite a carpet. The 

 flowers are large, and practically hide the 

 shoots and leaves ; gritty soil is necessary. 

 Seeds are freely produced as a rule, and ger- 

 minate readily. The seedlings vary in size and 

 colour of flower, some being small and pale, 

 others large and darker blue ; the best forms 

 may be kept for planting and the others dis- 

 carded. 



The Hypericums are among the most de- 

 lightful of alpines in early July, and few plants 

 give more pleasure than H. cuneatum with 

 prostrate wiry stems clothed Vvith tiny glaucous 

 leaves, the flower buds being as red almost as 

 sealing wax, the flowers opening in the sun a 

 briglit yellow ; a native of Asia Minor and 

 Syria, a sunny position is necessary, and in our 

 climate protection from winter damp. H. num- 

 mularium, with rounded lieart-shaped leaves 

 and starry yellow flowers, is most effective ; 

 others are H. coris, H. reptans, H. empetri- 

 folium, H. i3egyptiacum, H. crenulatum, and 

 H. repens, all good and choice Alpines. 



Primulas are practically over, but in the 

 parly part of the month P. tibetica was at- 



tractive with heads of bright pinlv flowers on 

 stems arising from rosettes of small leaves, the 

 whole plant not more than three inches high. 



Gentians are represented in July by several 

 very fine species, notably G. Freyniana, like a 

 glorified G. septemfida; the flowers, borne in 

 clusters at the ends of the shoots, are large and 

 of the finest gentian blue. G. Septemfida, 

 rather smaller, and with somewhat paler 

 flowers, is also very fine. 



G. dahurica, recently introduced in quantity 

 by Mr. Farrar, is a welcome July flowerer, with 

 long prostrate loose sprays of bright blue 

 flowers, green on the outside; the leaves, some 

 6 in. by | in., are strongly veined. The plant 

 grows well >n deep gritty loam. 



Herbaceous ])lants have flourished since '-he 

 rain came, and the borders of perennials are 

 now a blaze of colour. Outstanding plants are 

 Scabiosa caucasica. Coreopsis grandiflora, 

 Salvia nemorosa, Campanula lactiflora, Delph- 

 iniums, Dictamnus albus purpureus, Erigerons, 

 and many others. Others requiring more 

 moisture, and, therefore, grown in the bog 

 garden, are Astilbes in many varieties, pink 

 and creamy white; Iris aurea, I. Monnieri, 

 and others of the same class. A couple of in- 

 teresting plants for a sunny, dry position at the 

 base of a wall are Lobelia Tupa, with large 

 hoary leaves and spikes of dark crimson flowers, 

 and Thunbergia natalensis growing about 18 in. 

 high, with densely leafy shoots, and large 

 flowers, with a yellow tube, the upper part of 

 the corolla being blue ; an interesting and pretty 

 plant for a warm corner. Pentstemon 

 isophyllus, with glaucous leaves and ruddy 

 stems, requires a similar })Osition to survive the 

 winter. The flowers are long, narrow^ and 

 tubular, red outside, paler within, but with 

 darker lines. 



J. W. B. 



Glasnevin . 



The attention of Sub- 

 scribers is requested 

 to the Notice on page v. 

 regarding Subscrip- 

 tions. 



