32 ROCK AND WATER GARDENS 



Snowdrops, but we need ask nothing better than Galan- 

 thus Elwesii, with its pure, shapely flowers and bright 

 spikes of green leaves. In close, retentive soils it is 

 disappointing, but is perfectly happy in a mixture of 

 good loam, leaf mould, and sand. Snowdrops should 

 never be grown in open beds, when such ideal positions 

 as shrubbery and woodland, close turf and, above all, 

 the rock garden, are available. The Spring Snowflake 

 (Leucojum vernum) may be regarded as a large and 

 handsome form of the common Snowdrop. It grows 

 well in similar positions, and with the same class of soil. 

 In a shady corner, with peaty soil, a clump of Wood 

 Lilies (Trillium) display their pure white three-petalled 

 blossoms above rich shining leaves. 



Other small bulbous plants there are in plenty. The 

 Cyclamens, europaeum, Atkinsii and Coum ; the Spring 

 Star-flowers (Triteleia) and Fritillaries, Anomatheca 

 and the American Cowslip (Dodecatheon). 



Several of the smaller varieties of Tulips are com- 

 monly recommended as suitable for rock garden planting, 

 such kinds as Greigi, sylvestris and Kaufmanniana 

 especially. To my mind, however, they never look 

 well in such positions. Their stiffness and formality ill 

 accord with the wild freedom of mountain plants, and 

 their blaze of colour, glorious though it be, blinds us to 

 the beauty of many a dainty flower and shrub. The 

 wild Tulips are delightful in woodland clearings, 

 meadow sides and shrubbery margins, and for the 

 florist's kinds nothing can exceed the suitability and 

 charm of old-world Tulip gardens, in the Dutch style, 

 a formal arrangement for purely formal flowers. They 

 even look well in borders, so that it seems unreasonable 

 that they should occupy valuable space in the rock 

 garden, which affords a home for many plants that will 

 not thrive elsewhere. 



The same feeling applies to the dwarf Liliums, 



