840 



SAXIFRAGA. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



SAXIKRAGA. 



mingled with grit and broken stone, and 

 made very firm. Very dwarf and rather 

 slow-growing kinds, like 6". ccEsia and 6". 

 aretioides, should be surrounded by half- 

 buried pieces of stone, to prevent their 

 being trampled on or overrun. Stone 

 will also help to preserve the ground in a 

 moist healthy condition in the dry season, 

 when the plants are most likely to suffer. 

 A'ery dry winds in spring sometimes have 

 a bad effect when such precautions are 

 not taken. Established tufts are apt to 

 throw out stem-roots into their own 

 cushions, so to say. These cushions are 

 frequently moist during the autumn and 

 winter months. When the tufts are 

 suddenly dried, the plants suffer if the 

 ground-roots be dried too. 



The following are among the most im- 

 portant cultivated kinds, though the list 

 excludes many species that are difficult 

 to grow or to procure, and which are 

 found only in very full collections. 



S. aizoides. — A native plant, very abun- 

 dant in Scotland, the north of England, and 

 some parts of Ireland, and generally found in 

 wet places and by the sides of mountain rills 

 or streams. At the end of summer or in 

 autumn it has an abundance of flowers, | in. 

 across, bright yellow (inclining to orange in 

 the form aiirantiaca), dotted with red towards 

 the base. It forms dense masses of dwarf 

 bright green leaves, and has leafy branched 

 flower-stems, which distinguish it from other 

 yellow Saxifrages. Although a mountain 

 plant, it is easy to grow in lowland gardens in 

 moist ground. Wherever a rill or streamlet is 

 introduced into the rock-garden or its neigh- 

 bourhood, .S". aizoides may be planted to form 

 wide-spreading masses, as it does on its native 

 mountains. Easily propagated by division or 

 by seed. Syn., S. aiitiiiniialis. 



S. aizoon is a good rock, border, and 

 edging plant. Plants established for two or 

 three years form grey-silvery tufts, which do 

 not flower so freely as the wild plants, but this 

 need not be regretted, as it is the silvery mass, 

 and not the flowers, that is sought. This 

 Rockfoil is often grown in pots, but it flourishes 

 as freely as any native plant, and is best 

 perhaps when exposed to the full sun. There 

 is a host of named varieties offered in trade 

 lists, but they are mostly only slight variations 

 from the type. Division in spring. 



S. Andrews!. — Among the green-leaved 

 Saxifrages there is no better kind than this. 

 Its flowers are freely produced, prettily 

 spotted, and larger than those of S. timbrosa. 

 The plant is finer in the rock-garden than 

 London Pride, grows as freely on any border 

 soil, and merely requires to be replanted occa- 

 sionally, when it spreads into very large tufts, 

 or to have a dressing of fine light compost 

 sprinkled over it annually. A distinct variety, 

 Giithrieatta, is from the Pyrenees. 



S. apiculata, — A cross between .9. rocheliana 



and S. sancta, making neat green cushions 

 covered very early in the year with beautiful 1 



pale yellow flowers. S. Malyi conies very \ 



near this, but the flowers are a deeper yellow \ 



and more crowded. 



S. aretioides. — A real gem of the encrusted 

 section, forming cushions of silvery rosettes 

 about \ in. high. It has rich golden-yellow 

 flowers, in April, on stems a little more than 

 I in. high, which remind one of the flowers of 

 Aretia vitalliana. S. aretioides requires a 

 moist and well-drained soil, and being so tiny, 

 must be protected from coarser neighbours. 

 There is a new and pretty form of it with pale 

 yellow flowers, called priiniilina. Seed and 

 careful division. 



S. biflora. — A dwarf kind coming near 

 S. oppositifolia, but larger in growth and in its 

 rosy flowers, fading to violet and clustered 

 loosely in twos and threes. It grows in the 

 loose, moist grit of the alpine ice-fields, 

 flowering as soon as the snow melts in June. 



S. Burseriana. — None of the Rockfoils sur- 

 passes S. Burseriana in vernal beauty. It is 

 almost Moss-like in habit, forms broad patches, 

 and spreads rapidly over the earthy interstices 

 of warm moist sandstone, if planted where it 

 will not suffer from stagnant moisture. The 

 blossoms are borne singly on slender red 

 stalks, which rise 2 or 3 in. above the general 

 surface of the plant, and are pure white, the 

 margins of the overlapping petals elegantly 

 frilled or crisped. They appear freely in 

 January and February. Before they are ex- 

 panded, their crimson-brown unopened buds 

 have a cheerful effect as they emerge from the 

 compact silvery tufts of foliage, while inter- 

 spersed among full-blown flowers they en- 

 hance the pearly whiteness of the petals. 6". 

 Burseriana soon forms good-sized tufts in the 

 open border or in the rock-garden, but prefers 

 a dry sunny situation and calcareous soil. All 

 lovers of hardy spring flowers should possess 

 it. There are two or three distinct forms 

 which differ from each other chiefly in habit or 

 time of flower, one being much more tufted 

 than the others. There are forms with larger 

 flowers than the parent ; that called major is 

 good, and grandiflora less so, though its 

 flowers are very large. Large panfuls of this 

 early Rockfoil are pretty in the greenhouse. 

 Austrian Alps. 



S. caesia resembles an Androsace in the 

 neatness of its tufts. On the Alps it covers 

 the rocks and stones like a silvery Moss, and 

 on level ground, where it has some depth of 

 soil, develops into beautiful little cushions 2 to 

 6 in. across. It has pretty white flowers in 

 summer on smooth thread-like stems, i to 3 in. 

 high. Though a native of the high Alps and 

 Pyrenees, it thrives in our gardens in very firm 

 sandy soil, if fully exposed and well watered 

 in summer. It may also be grown in pots and 

 pans in cold frames near the glass ; but, being 

 very minute, should always be kept distinct 

 from coarse neighbours, as even the smallest- 

 weeds will injure or obscure it. Seeds or 

 careful division. Of similar character are 



