ALPINE FLOWERS FOR GARDENS 



[PART II. 



the little yellow Aretia, it is admir- 

 able for association with such plants. 

 It grows naturally very high on the 

 Alps, but thrives in loamy soil, and 

 is easily raised from seed. A native 

 of the Alps of Switzerland, Savoy, and 

 Austria. It is occasionally found with 

 white flowers in a wild state. 



IBERIS (Candytuft). For the rock- 

 garden, these perennial, half-shrubby 

 plants are essential, hardy, of great 

 endurance, and good effect, and they 

 can be grown anywhere, in any soil, 

 and are easily increased. Although 

 dwarf, they are so wiry and enduring, 

 that they might well be used in bold 

 groups between the rock-garden and 

 its surroundings. 



Iberis corifolia (Coris-leaved Candytuft). 

 A very dwarf kind, only 3 or 4 inches 

 high when in flower, and covered with small 

 white blooms in May. Few alpine plants 

 are more worthy of general culture. It is 

 probably a small variety of the Evergreen 

 Candytuft, but for garden use it is distinct 

 enough. Southern Europe ; easily pro- 

 pagated by seeds, cuttings, or division, and 

 thriving in any soil. 



I. corresefolia (Correa-leaved Candytuft). 

 This plant is readily known from any 

 other cultivated kind by its entire and 

 rather large leaves, by its compact head 

 of large white flowers, and by flowering 

 later than the other white kinds. Both 

 the flowers and the corymb are larger 

 than in the other species, and the blooms 

 stand forth more boldly from the smooth 

 dark-green leaves. It" is an invaluable 

 hardy plant, and particularly useful in 

 consequence of coming into full beauty 

 about the end of May or beginning of 

 June, when the other kinds are fading 

 away. Of its native country we know 

 nothing ; but once Mr Jennings, of the 

 Wellington Nurseries, informed me that 

 it was raised in, and first sent out from, 

 the Botanic Garden at Bury St Edmunds, 

 and it is probably a hybrid. Mr J. G. 

 Baker considers it to come nearest to /. 

 Pruiti, of the Nebrode Mountains, in 



Sicily. Readily increased by cuttings, 

 and also by seed. 



Iberis Gibraltarica (Gibraltar Candy- 

 tuft). This is larger in all its parts than the 

 other cultivated kinds, has oblong spoon- 

 shaped leaves, nearly 2 inches long ; the 

 large flowers, often reddish-lilac, being 

 arranged in low close heads, and appear- 

 ing in spring and early summer. I am 

 doubtful of its hardiness, and should ad- 

 vise its being wintered in pits or frames 

 till sufficiently abundant to be tried in 

 the open air. It should be planted on 

 sunny spots. A native of the South of 

 Spain ; increased by seeds and cuttings. 



I. Tenoreana (Tenure's Candytuft) A 

 dwarf species, with toothed leaves, which, 

 with the stems, are hairy, and a profusion 

 of white flowers changing to purple. As 

 the commonly cultivated kinds are white, 

 this one will be the more valuable from 

 its purplish hue, added to its neat habit. 

 It, however, has not the perfect hardiness 

 and fine constitution of the white kinds, 

 and is apt to perish on heavy soils in 

 winter ; but on light sandy soils it is 

 a good plant. A native of Naples, and 

 easily raised from seed. 



I. sempervirens (Evergreen Candytuft). 

 This is the common rock Candytuft of 

 our gardens, as popular as the yellow 

 Alyssum and the white Arabia. Half- 

 shrubby, dwarf, evergreen, and perfectly 

 hardy, it escaped destruction where many 

 herbaceous plants were destroyed ; and 

 as in April and May its neat tufts of 

 dark-green are transformed into masses 

 of snowy white, its presence has been 

 tolerated longer than many other fine 

 old plants. When in good soil, and fully 

 exposed, it forms spreading tufts often 

 more than a foot high, and they last for 

 many years. Like all its relatives, it 

 should be exposed to the full sun rather 

 than shaded, if the best result is sought. 

 A native of Greece, Asia Minor, Dalmatia, 

 and S. Europe, and readily increased by 

 seeds, cuttings, or division. 



I. Garrexiana is a variety of the Ever- 

 green Iberis, not sufficiently distinct to be 

 worthy of cultivation ; in fact, it and 

 several other Iberises prove to be mere 

 varieties, and very slight ones, of /. sem- 

 pervirens when grown side by side. 



