EASILY GROWN ROCK PLANTS 75 
enthusiastically proclaimed charming and exceedingly grace- 
ful plants, foliage, habit, form of flowers, and lovely colours 
being alike features of striking beauty. The tall-growing 
long-spurred hybrids, which are among our most popular 
border plants, are not quite the best for the rock garden 
or collection of alpines, but we have several dwarf species, 
most of which have conspicuously large flowers of bright 
rich colours, and are altogether well adapted for our present 
purpose, either as individual plants dotted among close- 
growing carpeting plants like Arenarias, Sedums or Acenas, 
or for massing in bold groups, the extent of which must 
of course be governed by the total area of the alpine 
garden. The Aquilegias like an ample root run in fairly 
rich, loamy soil, with a free admixture of grit or sharp 
sand. Home saved seed may be sown as soon as ripe, 
and the seedlings pricked off when an inch high. If more 
than one species or variety are grown, the seedlings may 
vary somewhat from the character and colour of the seed 
parent, but from the point of view of garden display this 
is of no material consequence. If, however, it is desired 
to raise a stock of a distinct species, true seed can generally 
be purchased from seed specialists. Roots three or four 
years old may be divided, but one rarely gets such vigour 
from divided plants as from seedlings. A few of the most 
serviceable species for the Alpine garden are: 
A. alpina, a plant that grows to about a foot in height, 
bearing large violet and white blossoms. There is in 
cultivation a selected garden form named alpina superba 
bearing larger and more showy flowers. A. flabellata is 
white, and it commences flowering as early as April. 
