7 io SAXIFRAGA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. SAXIFRAGA. 



and freer as regards flowering, but which 

 does not develop buds during summer. 



S. MUSCOIDES (Mossy Rockfoil). A 

 beautiful little plant, forming a dense 

 bright-green cushion-like tuft. There are 

 several forms of it, one of the best being 

 atro-purpurea , which produces a dense 

 mass of deep red-purple blossoms on stalks 

 a few inches high. Other forms bear 

 yellowish or rosy flowers, the best being 

 5. Rhei, with laVge bright pink flowers, 

 borne very freely on long stalks, and 

 Guildford Seedling, a new kind, with large 

 crimson-purple flowers of fine effect. The 

 varieties pygmcea and crocea are pretty, 

 also the allied kinds, 5. exarata, S. pede- 

 montana, S. aromatica, and a few others ; 

 they grow in almost any soil. 



S. MOSSY HYBRIDS. These are great 



Group of Silvery Kockfoils. 



garden gains, the brilliant patches of 

 colour they afford in the nature of a 

 revelation. They have descended chiefly 

 probably from Muscoides atro-purpurea, 

 Rhei, Guildford Seedling, and the bolder- 

 growing decipiens, and are welcome 

 additions to a great race. Bakeri, Cli- 

 brani, Fergusoni, an early-flowering form 

 of Guildford Seedling, and sanguinea 

 superba, are of dwarf habit of growth and 

 richly coloured flowers, the last of rich 

 velvety crimson, the most brilliant of 

 them all. None are more desirable or 

 effective when freely massed. Bathoni- 

 ensis and decipiens grandiflora are bolder 

 growing, plus a little coarseness also, and 

 attain 9 inches or more high. They have 

 large rich red coloured flowers. All are 

 easily grown in cool, moist soil, and may 



be increased at will, every rosette making 

 a plant if pricked out in moist sandy soil 

 in a cold frame. 



S. OPPOSITIFOLIA. It is impossible to 

 speak too highly of the beauties of this 

 bright little mountain-plant, in colour and 

 in habit so distinct from others of its 

 family. The moment the snow melts 

 it glows into solid sheets of purplish-rose 

 colour. Of the several varieties, that 

 known as splendens has flowers of far 

 greater brilliancy, though slightly smaller 

 and less abundant than those of the 

 parent ; in bud especially the colour is 

 almost carmine and most beautiful. This 

 variety was found many years ago on the 

 mountains of Scotland. 5. o. major has 

 flowers twice the size of the type, clear 

 rose, inclining to cherry, and has less of 

 a purple tinge. In 5. o. pyrenaica the 

 shoots are much stronger and the flowers 

 larger than in other forms. A fine form 

 is S. o. p. maxima, with lovely light rose 

 blossoms as large as a shilling ; while 

 5. o. alba has white flowers, in pleasing 

 contrast to other varieties. Perhaps the 

 best form of all is a new seedling, W. A. 

 Clark, with abundant rosy flowers of a 

 very bright shade. 5. Rudolphiana has a 

 more spreading habit of growth, and its 

 rosy-purple flowers are sometimes borne 

 singly and sometimes (though rarely) in 

 pairs. It is allied to S. biflora and S. 

 Kochii, the last with rosy-purple flowers 

 in twos and fours at the tips of the shoots. 

 The foliage of S. retusa is firm and compact, 

 with small flowers borne in clusters at the 

 tips of erect stalks ; their narrow petals 

 are usually a pale rose colour, sometimes 

 brighter. It blooms rather later than 

 the forms of 5. oppositifolia. S. Wul- 

 feniana is closely allied to 5. retusa. S. 

 oppositifolia and its varieties succeed in 

 deep, open, rich, loamy soil, and are finest 

 in a fissure or on a ledge of the rock 

 garden, where the roots can ramble 

 backwards or down to any depth. For 

 the soil, a rich light loam mixed with 

 fragments of limestone or grit, small 

 fragments of any rock, and a little river 

 sand will do. These plants must have 

 sunshine, for though they will grow in 

 the shade, they will not flower freely. 



S. PAULINA. A cushion sort of gem- 

 like habit of growth, and one of the easiest 

 to cultivate. Yellow-flowered and with 

 rosettes of pronouncedglaucous leaves, it 

 is quite distinct from all. Quite happy 

 and free in gritty loam, and flowering 

 abundantly in April. 



S. PELTATA. The shield-like leaves of S. 

 peltata make it unique among Saxifrages, 

 and on this account some have classed it 

 apart under the name Peltiphyllum . From 

 a thick fleshy root-stock rise stout erect 

 leaf-stalks to a height of 3 or 4 feet, where 

 they are terminated by target-like leaves 

 1 8 inches or more in diameter. The white 

 or pale pink flowers appear in spring, a 



