27, 
about nine inches high. Closely following it is our Common 
Columbine with flowers of cinnabar red and yellow. This com- 
monly grows wild in rocky places and is thus very appropriate in 
a rock garden. About the same time we expect to see the ex- 
quisite Rocky Mountain Columbine, A. cerulea, with its flowers 
of white and blue, with sometimes a suggestion of yellow. The 
deep blue flowers of the Alpine Columbine (4. alpina), from 
Europe, open in May and continue into June. These four colum- 
bines form an adequate representation of the genus for rock 
garden purposes, the many garden hybrids being more appro- 
priately cared for in the perennial border. 
The Rock Jasmines (Androsace), typical alpine plants, are rep- 
resented during the first week of May by 4. sarmentosa, a species 
with pink flowers in umbels rising about three inches from the 
ground. It comes from the Ilimalayas, and has attractive rosettes 
of grayish foliage produced at the tips of runners. The rarity of 
Androsace in American gardens may be 
by 
educed from the fact 
that the genus is not even mentioned in “ Standardized Plant 
Names.” The saxatile group represented by such species as A. 
helvetica, A. alpina, etc., are very difficult to grow and are seldom 
seen in gardens. The kinds that we have had success with belong 
in another group, which, instead of forming the tight cushions of 
the helvetica series, is inclined to make trailing stems, or runners, 
somewhat after the fashion of the strawberry. Included in this 
group are A. carnea brigantiaca (tufted) (Fig. 6); A. sarmen- 
tosa and its varieties; A. primuloides, similar to the last but later 
in coming into bloom; A. foliosa (end of May), a rather lush 
looking plant from the Himalayas that is not very permanent; and 
A. lanuginosa, which flowers from June onwards. The dainty, 
fragile looking A. lactiflora, which is an annual, springs up from 
self-sown seeds, and its white flowers are charming throughout 
the month of May. 
The Spring Adonis (Adonis vernalis, Fig. 13), with its enor- 
mous, glistening, yellow flowers and refined, much divided foliage, 
is one of the bright spots in the rock garden at this time. It grows 
well in moist soil and is vastly superior to the earlier blooming 
Amur Adonis which looks somewhat carroty, and consequently 
weedy, after it has passed its blooming period. 
