PART II.] 



ALPINE FLOWERS FOR GARDENS 



209 



cream coloured. A handsome plant; 

 from woods in Hungary. 



DESFONTAINEA SPINOSA. A 



brilliant flowering shrub in favoured 

 gardens along the sea-coast, this 

 beautiful ever-green shrub from Chili 

 may be flowered out-of-doors. It is 

 of moderate growth, having foliage 

 like a Holly ; flowers are in the form 

 of a tube, scarlet tipped with yellow. 

 It usually flowers about the end of 

 summer, and in some parts of Devon- 

 shire it blooms freely, thriving in a 

 light, loamy, or peaty soil. It 

 may here and there thrive among 

 rock-garden shrubs, and it is not a high 

 temperature that seems to help it, 

 but nearness to the sea, as one may 

 see it thriving even in the north of 

 Ireland within a few miles of the sea. 

 A few miles inland, and it fails. 



D I A N T H U S (Pink}. Usually 

 dwarf evergreen herbs, alpine rock, 

 shore, or heath dwellers, many beautiful, 

 and among them two which have given 

 us the many garden Pinks and Carna- 

 tions we now have. The Pinks, es- 

 pecially the alpine kinds, are moisture- 

 loving plants, and during spring and 

 summer water must be given in such 

 a way as to interfere as little as 

 possible with the tufted crowns, as 

 moisture about the neck or stagnant 

 soil is often fatal. This can best be 

 done by half-buried stones around the 

 plants. The wireworm is the deadliest 

 enemy of this family, and when an 

 affected tuft is found, lift it, wash 

 off all the soil, and replant in a fresh 

 mixture. 



The higher and rarer Pinks, such 

 as the alpine and glacier Pinks, deserve 

 the best places in the rock-garden, 

 and in cool stony ground. More 

 lowland kinds, like our common 

 Pink, are much more free than the 



others, and may be used in bold 

 ways for edges and groups, and the 

 same may be said of certain hybrid 

 kinds, which are often good in colour. 

 Some mountain kinds, like the 

 Cheddar Pink and also kinds like it 

 in habit, are easily established on 

 old walls and bare stony ground. 

 Many Pinks are easily increased by 

 division, but of the rarer kinds the 

 seed should be saved, and sown where 

 we desire the plants to grow on the 

 rock-garden. In this very large family 

 there are many annual kinds, such as 

 the Chinese Pinks, and probably some 

 brilliant species not yet introduced 

 from the large area of distribution of 

 the genus in Europe, Asia, and N. 

 Africa. A cool but open soil of 

 sandy loam and a little leaf -mould 

 suits the alpine kinds best. The alpine 

 kinds are apt in our warmer gardens 

 to get a little drawn and leggy, and 

 a good way is to top-dress the tufts 

 with a fine leaf-mould with river sand 

 or grit among it, gently working it 

 among the shoots. The following is a 

 selection from a large number of kinds 

 of the best for the rock-garden. There 

 as in other cases where the aim is not 

 to have a botanical collection only, we 

 can best enjoy the beauty of the 

 plants by cultivating well and group- 

 ing effectively the more distinct kinds. 

 The various races of garden flowers 

 derived from the wild Dianthus : Pinks, 

 Carnations, Picotees, Cloves, variously 

 coloured double forms of the Pink, 

 so much grown in our gardens and 

 as cut flowers for market; the many 

 forms of the Chinese Pink, so much 

 grown among annual flowers, and the 

 mule Pinks, effective border flowers, 

 do not rightly belong to the alpine 

 garden, and are not included here. 



Dianthus alpinus (Alpine Pink). A. 

 distinct and lovely plant, with dense green 



