PART II.] 



ALPINE FLOWERS FOR GARDENS 



149 



The flowers are pink, on stems nearly 6 

 inches high. Asia Minor. 



These, I believe, are all the species 

 at present in cultivation. The follow- 

 ing information has been gathered 

 from the dried specimens at Kew : 



Acantholimon kotschyi is about 4 

 inches high, with distinctly broad leaves, 

 being spiny and freely flowered, blossoms 

 white. 



A. armenum has pink blossoms on 

 sprays nearly 6 inches high. 



A. cephalotes has rosy pink flowers in 

 globose heads, while the spiny leaves are 

 less numerous in the rosettes than in most 

 kinds. This comes from Kurdistan. 



A. laxiflorum is the tallest species, 

 growing about 9 inches high, the leaves 

 long and narrow. 



A. libanoticum is exceedingly woody 

 and dense in growth. It is a Syrian 

 species, with flowers of pink hue. 



A. pinardi also has pink blossoms, the 

 specimens varying in stature, possibly on 

 account of age. 



So far as could be determined by dried 

 specimens, many of these not now in 

 cultivation are very beautiful, and, from 

 the general scarcity of good midsummer 

 alpine plants in the rock-garden, would be 

 greatly prized. E. J. 



ACHILLEA (Yarrow). Herbaceous 

 and alpine plants numerous through 

 N. Asia, S. Europe, and Asia Minor, 

 varying in height from 2 inches to 4 

 feet ; their flowers pale lemon, yellow, 

 and white, rarely pink or rose. Many 

 of the cultivated kinds are too ramp- 

 ant for grouping with alpine garden 

 plants. The dwarfer kinds, on the 

 other hand, come in for groups for 

 the rock-garden or the margins of 

 rock borders, and as edging plants, 

 most of them growing freely and being 

 easy of increase ; some of the higher 

 alpine kinds are not very enduring 

 in our open winters, and often in our 

 gardens get " staggy '' after a few years' 

 growth, requiring division and re- 

 planting. 



Achillea Ageratifolia. A silvery- 

 leaved plant from the sub-alpine districts 

 of Northern Greece, 4 to 7 inches high, 

 with white flowers resembling Daisies ; 

 early in summer. The leaves are narrow, 

 tongue-shaped, crimped, and covered with 

 white down. This is a very neat and 

 distinct plant, and easy of cultivation in 

 light soil. 



A. aurea (Golden Yarrow). One of 

 the showiest kinds, about 12 inches 

 high ; leaves finely cut, flowers bright 

 yellow ; freely on upright stalks. 

 Caucasus. 



A. -ffigyptiaca (Egyptian Yarrow). A 

 silvery plant in all its parts, with finely 

 cut leaves, and handsome heads of yellow 

 flowers, with something of the grace of 

 a fern in its leaves. A native of Egypt 

 and the East, it is not hardy in all soils 

 and positions, but it survives on well- 

 drained sunny spots, flowers in summer, 

 and is easily multiplied by division. 



A. cla venae (White Alpine Yarrow). 

 A dwarf kind, covered with a short, silky 

 down, which makes the plant almost of 

 a silvery white ; flowers in summer of a 

 good white. It likes a light, free, loamy soil. 

 Alps of Austria ; increased by division of 

 the roots, and also by seed. 



A. Huteri (Enter's Yarrow), with bright 

 green foliage, and pure white flowers. It 

 likes a sunny part of the rock-garden, and 

 grows well in common soil. Exempt 

 from the struggle for life in the alpine 

 turf, this, like so many spreading plants 

 in our gardens, is best divided and re- 

 planted every second year. 



A. Tomentosa (Downy Yarrow). One 

 of the tufted plants that help to form the 

 carpets of silver, whereon large Violets 

 and Gentians display their charms on the 

 Alps, itself sending up flat corymbs of 

 bright yellow flowers. On such ground 

 it is dwarf, but in rich soil in gardens 

 it is taller, 12 inches high. It is a good 

 plant for the margins of mixed borders, 

 and also for the rock-garden. European 

 Alps, thriving in ordinary soil. 



A. rupestris (Rock Yarrow). A. pretty 

 and early-flowering kind from Calabria, 

 thriving in poor soil and on warm banks ; 

 A. nana, moschata, and umbellata, a Greek 



