TREES FOR THE ROCK GARDEN 145 



new growth will break away above the withered 

 flowers, leaving, in many cases, straggling and un- 

 clothed branches. The omission of this needful 

 work every season is a fruitful source of the ragged- 

 ness which brings some discredit on these otherwise 

 attractive plants. 



Many flowering shrubs of the same natural order 

 as Heaths, but unlike them in general appearance, 

 such as the Alpine Rhododendrons, R. ferrugineum 

 and R. htrsutum, and the less well-known but very 

 beautiful and distinct R. racemosum, as well as some 

 of the miniature varieties of Azalea indica, notably 

 R. obtusa and its forms, seem peculiarly suitable for 

 the Rock Garden (see p. 428 for lists of the best 

 Rhododendrons). Again, where rock meets more 

 level ground, and the trickle of a stream can be so 

 directed as to give moisture without sogginess, a 

 considerable number of peat-loving evergreen shrubs 

 belonging to the same order, of the type of Gaultheria, 

 Vacciniuniy and Pieris, may be used with excellent 

 effect. Gaullheria Shallon, indeed, is a singularly fine 

 shrub in any position, and is not very exacting in 

 any of its requirements. Growing about 2 feet high, 

 with purple leaf-tints in winter, and spikes of white 

 waxy flowers, brightly tinged with red, in spring, 

 which are followed by purple fruit, few things can 

 surpass it in its way. For carpeting moist spots, the 

 little G. procumbens, which rises scarcely 3 inches 

 from the ground, will fill a useful place with its 

 winter colouring of crimson brown. Shrubs of this 



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