My Rock Garden 



son of Anak ; a suitable cosy nook is given to the poor 

 homeless waif, and so long as plants flourish I cannot 

 bring myself to destroy their happiness. So do not ex- 

 pect the orthodox grouping of dwarf alpines, or even care- 

 fully-stratified stones, for I have never hesitated to stand 

 a large, flat block up on end tp form a miniature south 

 wall for tender sun-lovers, but I have always had the sense 

 to fill in the back of such an one with soil and continue 

 the rise above the stone, and so treated the bank looks 

 natural enough. I have used Kentish rag throughout, 

 and until my ship comes home with a cargo of more 

 guineas than I know what to do with I shall not change 

 it for mountain limestone. The rag weathers well here, 

 grows as much moss as I care about, and tones to a good 

 soft grey colour ; it has enough sandstone facing on some 

 blocks to make a little crumbling surface for some of the 

 plants to root into, and yet is solid enough to resist the 

 weather. It may flake a little its first winter, but not 

 sufficiently to do any harm. 



Much of the rock garden is built on a steep clay bank 

 that Sir Hugh Myddelton constructed three hundred years 

 ago to support this loop of the New River and so carry it 

 round the valley instead of, as now, across it in pipes : 

 that means the upper edge of my rock garden must be a 

 straight line bounded by the walk along the riverside. A 

 second straight walk had been made along the foot of the 

 bank, and this also has had to be respected, but a triangular 

 portion of the meadow was cut off, in two bites and with 

 several years between each mouthful, and forms the main 

 expanse of rock garden and saves it from the stiff outline that 

 253 



