IRISH GARDENING. 



141 



Late Flowers for Rock Garden. 



By R. LLOYD PRAEGER, B.A. 



TO keep the rock-g-arden bright during 

 the middle and latter part of the summer 

 is somewhat of a problem. The season 

 opens as early as January with the Burscriana 

 Saxifrages, and as the days lengthen little 

 patches of colour increase in number and 

 variety, till in May and June the place is ablaze 

 with flowers of every hue. But as July comes 

 in there is a sad relapse. The Crucifers — 

 Alyssums, Drabas, Arabis, and so on — are 

 almost all gone. The Kabschia Saxifrages and 

 most of the silvers are long a thing of the past ; 

 the mossy Saxifrages look weedy and parched ; 

 the x\ubretias look quite dreadful. Pinks of all 

 sorts are rapidly going, and the earlier Cam- 

 panulas, that have for weeks been a blaze of 

 blue, are vanishing likewise. By the time 

 August comes many a rock-garden is as bare 

 as the Libyan desert — a mere arid waste of 

 stones and dull, green flowerless tufis. And 

 yet it need not be so. A little care \\\ selection 

 will give us a cheerful display of colour right 

 through the hot season ; and though this can 

 never equal the glory of May, it will carry 

 us safely through till the delicate white 

 blossoms of Saxifraga Fortiinei remind us 

 that winter is close upon us. 



First of all, there are various excellent plants 

 that, commencing flowering in spring, are our 

 comrades right through the season. The 

 Erodiums, such as E. Manescavi, E. hybridum, 

 E. olyinpicum^ E. trichotnaiicefoliinn, are most 

 pleasing in this respect. Likewise, some of 

 the dwarf Toadflaxes — for instance, Linaria 

 alpina and its lovely rosea variety, L. nntirr- 

 hinifolia and L. pilosa ; and for long-continued 

 profusion of bloom Viola vmnbyana and F. 

 cornnta and its varieties are hard to beat. The 

 Flaxes, too — Liiiiim nirbonensc^ L. aiislriacum, 



L. monogynuvi, &c and the little Sisyrin- 



chiums flower month after month, and their 

 slender forms are very delightful in the rock- 

 garden. 



Of good July flowerers, there are plenty to 

 choose from. The dwarf St. John's-worts 

 deserve a high place — Hypericiivi repens, 

 reptans, enipetrifoliuin, olympicuni, fragile, and 

 so on — all willing and showy little plants. 

 Many of the smaller Campanulas, too, are at 

 their glory in July — C. portenschlagiana, C. 

 tiirbiiiata, C. garganica, the lovely C. barbata, 

 and many more. Then most of the creeping 

 Thymes form carpets of white, pink and 

 crimson ; and the invaluable Polygonum Briin- 

 onis {affine) continues from July into the late 

 autumn. Many of the smaller Sedums, such 

 as the golden .S". sexangularc and the pinkish 



S. glaucnm are a blaze of colour in July ; the 

 quaint Calceolaria polyrhisa is at its best ; and 

 Gypsophylla repens is very valuable, providing 

 a spray of delicate white bloom long before the 

 better-known G. paniciilata comes in, and re- 

 maining long in flower. Among miscellaneous 

 July-flowering treasures may be also mentioned 

 i eucriuni pyrenaiciini, Calaniintha alpina, 

 Cyananihus lobatus, Erigeron glaiicus. 



In August we have still many good plants to 

 fall back upon. The larger Sedums are in 

 now, and perhaps of any single genus they are 

 the most useful at this season. Of the taller 

 species the many forms of »S'. Fabaria and S. 

 Telephiiun are very valuable, while the bushy 

 ..S". populifoliiun and the spreading S. Ewersii 

 and S. spurium splendens are quite delightful 

 plants, which everyone should grow. The 

 earlier Sea- lavenders, such as Statice bellidi- 

 folia and S. occidentalism provide a pretty bit of 

 colour. Then there are some grand August 

 Campanulas the lovely C. isophylla (which is 

 quite hardy here, though mostly seen indoors), 

 and its even better variety yJ/aj)/// C. longistyla, 

 C. carpatica, the various rohindifolia forms, 

 and the lovely little true C. Wilsoni. The 

 dwarf OEnotheras are now at their best, and 

 CE. taraxacifolia, CE. viissouriensis and the 

 others open in the evening their great white or 

 yellow blooms. The large order of the 

 Labiatae next provides a number of very 

 pretty, if not extremely showy, August- 

 flowering species — Micromerias, Teucriums, 

 Scutellarias, Dracocephalums, Origanums, 

 Satureias. If I were asked to name a few of 

 the best, I should say Micromeria piperella, 

 Scutellaria baicalensis. Origanum pulchellum, 

 Satureia pygjucea — all neat, little bushy plants, 

 willing and free. Then we can help things 

 greatly by the use of a few taller plants, such 

 as Lythrum alatum, Ononis natrix, the larger 

 Sea-lavenders, and the dwarf, hardy Fuchsias, 

 such as F. puniila, F. rejlexa, and the various 

 varieties with fancy names ; and in this con- 

 nection Nicrembergia frutescens should not be 

 forgotten — a glorious plant, producing a great 

 cascade of delicate lilac-white flowers ; reported 

 tender, but it came through last winter with 

 me in open ground. Of miscellaneous August- 

 blooming rock-plants I would place in the 

 forefront Silene schafta, Tunica Saxifraga, 

 Galium riibrum the first a mass of rose- 

 coloured flowers, the second of pink, the third 

 a wondrous cloud of chocolate-brown. Achillcea 

 Kellereri, one of the best of the newer Milfoils, 

 is now in full flower, while Artemisia maritima — 

 a native plant too seldom seen in gardens — 

 produces a fine mass of silver. In Dianthus 

 pinifolius we even have an August-flowering 

 Pink, while of the dwarf Potentillas P. Tonguei 

 is a real gem. The spring fruiting heads of 



