74 ALPINE FLOWERS [PART I. 



especially to such as are ornamental when in flower, and not 

 unsightly at other seasons. If different rockeries or separate 

 parts of the same can be assigned to rapid growers and to dwarf 

 compact plants, it will be an advantage. There are many 

 subjects which belong to the class of alpines which require to 

 be displayed in a broad and high mass to do them full justice. 

 Such things should make a train from the top of the rockery 

 quite to the ground ; Aubrietias, for example, and Veronica 

 prostrata should look like purple or blue cataracts ; others 

 should be unlimited in breadth, like the dwarf mossy Phloxes 

 and the brilliantly coloured Helianthemums. Such things do 

 not like being cropped round to limit their growth, and if there 

 is not enough room for them, they had better be omitted, though 

 in stiff and cold soils they will not thrive in the mixed border. 

 Whatever is grown, the small and delicate gems of the collec- 

 tion must run no danger of being smothered by overwhelming 

 neighbours, and this requires both careful arrangement and 

 constant watching. When first I began to cultivate alpines, I 

 planted somewhat indiscriminately together things which I 

 thought would make an ornamental combination, but the 

 weaker soon became overwhelmed in the fight with the 

 stronger, and there was nothing to be done but to build a 

 new rockery and plant it more carefully. In this way I have 

 now constructed at least a dozen rockeries, trying each time 

 to benefit by past experiences and to exclude weedy plants. 

 The first and second made still continue, and are still flowery 

 wildernesses in Spring, but everything choice and delicate upon 

 them has either long ago perished or been transferred to new 

 quarters. But visitors to my garden in Spring, who are not 

 connoisseurs in alpines, think these wild rockeries far more 

 ornamental than the half bare stone heaps where my choicest 

 plants are grown, and which they think will look very nice in 

 a year or two when they are as well covered as the others. I 

 have mentioned this to show that those who can appreciate the 

 beauty of the smaller and more delicate alpines, and grow 

 them for their own sake, must be contented to see their 

 favourites surrounded in many instances by bare stones; but 



