2i8 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



is the best early Heath. Beginning to flower early in the spring, it 

 gives way when the sun gets strong. It is from a calcareous country, 

 so it may be used in districts where other Heaths will not grow. 



Australian Everlasting (Helichrysum bellidioides}. A newly come 

 plant, this surprises me by its fitness for the work, being dwarf, 

 abundant in bloom, and free-growing too anywhere on dry walls and 

 as an edging. 



Gentianella (Gentiana acaulis}. This is the most precious of all 

 edging plants in the calcareous soils of Ireland and Scotland. In 

 the south of England in ordinary soils it gives way in dry weather 

 and. is difficult to establish. One gets over that by placing it behind 

 a stone edging, when flowers may be expected, but never quite so 

 fine as in the soils it loves. 



Rocky Mountain Phloxes (P. subulata and other dwarf kinds). 

 I have had these for many years now on the top of a dry stone wall 

 dividing the flower garden from the rising ground, and their fine 

 colours and other qualities have pleased me well in groups, which last 

 for years in good health. Quick to grow, they are among the good 

 edging plants that help to keep down the weeds. 



Gauze plant (Gypsophila repens). This has been the best as to 

 endurance, good in colour and long in bloom. It has been more than 

 ten years in one edging without it ever showing a sign of weakness, 

 flowering all the summer and right into the autumn. The pink 

 variety is as useful as the white. Sometimes other rock plants stray 

 into it, and that is an added charm. 



The Dwarf Lavender. No edging meets with more approval than 

 the Dwarf Lavender. It is more compact than the usual forms, and 

 the flowers are of a deeper colour. Lavender, growing over a vast 

 area on the warmer slopes of the Alps and in many lands around 

 the great sea, varies much, and to that habit we owe this and other 

 forms. The Dwarf Lavender makes a neat edging in the fruit or 

 kitchen garden where the large forms might be in the way. 



Turban Hairbell (Campanula turbinata\ This, the true plant, is 

 a handsome Hairbell, better for the rock garden than as an edging. 

 I tried it in ordinary cool soil just within the stone edging, where it 

 did well, and in flower the effect was fine. It does not, however, 

 meet my wants as a good edging to a flower-bed ; it should bloom 

 throughout the summer. 



Mountain Sandwort (Arenana montand}. This fine rock plant 

 makes the loveliest edging of the bolder sort that one could desire. 

 Behind a line of sandstone blocks it flowered beautifully, and is, 

 so planted, very well fitted as a frame for shrubs, hardy and long- 

 enduring. 



The Blue Bindweed (Convolvulus mauritanicus}. This is the one 



