CHAPTER III 



THE ROCK-WALL IN SUN 



MANY of the most easily grown Alpines are just as 

 happy in a sunny wall as in the shade. So bene- 

 ficent to the roots is contact with the cool stone, that 

 plants that would perish from drought in the lighter 

 soils and fierce sun-heat of our southern counties 

 remain fresh and well nourished in a rock-wall in 

 the hottest exposure. Moreover, in walls all plants 

 seem to be longer lived. Those of the truly saxatile 

 plants, whose way of growth is to droop over rocks 

 and spread out flowering sheets, are never so happy 

 as in a rock-wall. But it cannot be too often re- 

 peated that to get good effects a few kinds only 

 should be used at a time. So only can we enjoy 

 the full beauty of the plant and see what it really can 

 do for us ; so only can we judge of what the plant 

 really is, and get to know its ways. In many of 

 those rock-plants that are grown from seed, indi- 

 viduals will be found to vary, not only in the colour 

 and size of the bloom, but in other characters, so that 

 the plant cannot be judged by one example only. 

 Look at the variety in trees in Birches, in Hollies, 

 in Oaks ! Still more is this natural variation notice- 

 able in small plants that are close to the eye. In 



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