My Rock Garden 



its very neat, narrow leaves and upright growth from the 

 sprawling, coarser-growing kinds. Its near relation, H. 

 libanoticum, which is practically a yellow-flowered counter- 

 part of it, and the still more dwarf lunulatum, are equally 

 neat growers. 



At the foot of the steps that lead up to the moraines 

 Aquilegia viridi 'flora is in full bloom. It is a very unusual- 

 looking flower, for its petals are dark purplish-brown, and 

 its sepals a curious dull green that harmonises beautifully 

 with the dark circular petticoat. The spurs are long and 

 without hooks at their ends, and the anthers protrude and 

 add to the grace of the flower. There is a charming 

 figure of it in Jacquin's I cones Plantarum Rariorum. It 

 is not an easy plant to please, but in this spot it is as 

 happy as I ever saw it. 



One seldom sees Lotus Tetragonolobus in England, but 

 it is well worth a place at the foot of the rock garden, 

 where it makes a cheerful green carpet for many months, 

 and now and then gives out a scent so much like cow's 

 breath that the first time I got a whiff of it I turned round 

 to look for the cow, and finding none traced the milky 

 odour to the plant. I do not understand the conditions 

 under which this scent is produced, for I often try to 

 smell it myself or present it to the noses of others and fail, 

 and then occasionally it is quite strong on the air even 

 without touching the plant. The large, solitary, pea-shaped 

 flowers are of a delightfully soft yellow, and in a garden 

 specimen are much more freely produced than those one 

 sees scattered here and there in the Alpine pasture. The 

 seeds are four-sided and bear prominent wings on each 

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