ROCK GARDEN CONSTRUCTION 17 



or cliff path. Flat stones by the path edge, with an 

 occasional rock jutting out from the garden slopes, will 

 help to disperse any appearance of formality. Coarse 

 grey gravel and small stones will form the best surface, 

 and provide a dry, clean footway in all weathers. There 

 are many small plants which establish themselves readily 

 among the edging stones and at the sides of the slabs in 

 the pathway itself. Such are the Woodsias, Asplenium 

 and other Alpine ferns, the creeping Sandwort (Arenaria) 

 and the little violet-flowered Wall Erinus (E. Alpinus). 

 Herein lies the beauty of the rock garden, for even as we 

 walk there are flowers crowding the pathway ; space is 

 never wasted, there is always some tiny plant willing to 

 occupy the smallest crevice. 



Rough steps connecting the different levels add much 

 to the picturesque appearance of larger rock gardens. 

 They should be quite informal, and if carefully made 

 will look as though they had been roughly hewn out of 

 the living rock. A long narrow stone slab should be 

 fitted to the front edge of each step, or if this cannot be 

 managed, two or even three smaller pieces connected by 

 sunken cement joints. The cement will afterwards be 

 concealed by small plants and mosses, which may be 

 naturalised by the scattering of a few seeds in a pinch of 

 soil. It is not necessary to pave the tread of the steps, 

 but a few pieces of flat stone may be inserted here and 

 there. For the rest, they may be made firm and level 

 with earth and coarse gravel. In a short time the plants 

 bordering the steps will throw out creeping stolons, 

 draping the sides ; dwarf Campanulas will thrive in the 

 joints, and in the corners, safe from the foot of the 

 careless, Rockfoils and Stonecrops will thrust forth 

 their tiny blossoms. 



