THE ALPINE GARDEN 101 



others that are fairly well content with one that is not 

 their own, but there are a certain number that are not 

 so tolerant, and if we would do the very best we can 

 for the lovely plants of the mountain regions they 

 should be given the kind of soil and rock that suits 

 them best. 



From its very beginning then, if an Alpine garden 

 is to be made in a calcareous soil let it be planted 

 with the lime-loving plants and those that are tolerant 

 in the matter of soil, but not with those that demand 

 granite. Hitherto the mistakes of amateurs may have 

 been excused, because in the books and plant lists 

 that have till now been available the great importance 

 of this has not been clearly and concisely put before 

 them. 



If the Alpine garden is to accommodate a larger 

 range of plants than those proper to the one soil, or 

 if preparation from the first has to be made for plants 

 of these two geological divisions, it is well that one 

 distinct portion of the garden should be prepared 

 with limestone and the other with granite. In this 

 way it will not only be easier to work the garden and 

 to know the destination of any newcomer, but the 

 plants themselves will be in better harmony. I would 

 earnestly counsel intending planters, if they have to 

 do with a small space only, to be content with plants 

 of the one or the other class of soil, because, as in 

 all other kinds of gardening, the mere dotting of 

 one plant, or of two or three only of a kind, will 

 never make a beautiful garden, but at the best can 



