CHAPTER XI 



SOME GARDENS IN THE ALPS 



Gardens are becoming more and more numerous 

 in the Alps ; almost every year lengthens the list. 

 For present purposes, however, we will content 

 ourselves with visiting three only — three of the 

 oldest and most representative ; and, as Alpine 

 plants may be roughly divided into two sections — 

 the limestone-loving and the granite-loving — we 

 shall be careful to choose a garden in a limestone, 

 and one in a granite district ; the third being one 

 which is purely scientific, as apart fi*om the more 

 decorative and protectionist aim of the other two. 

 We will also visit them in the order in which the 

 writer last saw them in the Spring and Summer 

 of 1909. 



The Thomasia (limestone; altitude about 3,800 ft.). 



An easy walk of some three and a half hours 

 from Bex, in the Rhone Valley, this garden is 

 admirably situated at Pont de Nant amid sheltered, 



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