PART II.] 



ALPINE FLOWERS FOR GARDENS 



263 



grows as fast as Cobcea scandcns, and is 

 said to be propagated in the same way, 

 viz., by means of cuttings of the young 

 growth. A native of Peiu, and Ecuador, 

 at elevations of from 6,000 to 11,000 feet. 



MYOSOTIDIUM NOBILE (Ant-, 

 arctic Forget-me-not). A noble per- 

 ennial, with very handsome flowers 

 like a Forget-me-not. A native of 

 the Chatham Islands in the Pacific, 

 and frequenting there damp sandy 

 shores, it is, for the most part, diffi- 

 cult to grow in our country, but Mrs 

 Rogers at Burncoose, and various 

 others, have succeeded. The neigh- 

 bourhood of the sea almost essential, 

 though by the use of frames and care 

 the plant can be grown elsewhere, but 

 I have never seen it well done except 

 in Cornwall. It has a thick root-stock, 

 from which arise the large heart-shaped, 

 shining green leaves. The flowers are 

 borne on an erect stem 1 feet high ; 

 it is leafy all the way up, and is termi- 

 nated by a loose corymb of flowers, in 

 colour exactly like Forget-me-not, but 

 the shade of blue varies. It has been 

 grown in cool houses with some suc- 

 cess, but the thing to do, if one can, 

 is to establish it on a sandy moist 

 part of the rock-garden, anyv;here 

 within the influence of the sea, using 

 also, if one may, sand from the beach. 



Mrs Roger's plants were raised from 

 seed, and grown in a south border, 

 sea-sand piled up around them. 



MYOSOTIS (Forget-me-not). Per- 

 ennial and biennial plants ; some true 

 alpines among them, for the most part 

 of easy culture, and precious for their 

 associations as well as beauty. 



If the Forget-me-nots are in moist 

 soil, not too heavy, they not only 

 do not need shade, but are better in 

 the open, the plants sturdier and more 

 free flowering, but the wood and water 



Forget-me-nots will thrive in partial 

 shade. 



Myosotis Alpestris (Alpine Forget-me- 

 not}. A British alpine plant, found in one 

 or two places in Scotland and Northern 

 England, and of fine colour and beauty. 

 It forms close tufts of dark-green hairy 

 leaves, healthy plants rising to a height of 

 only about 2 inches, and in April a few 

 flowers of a beautiful blue, with a very 

 small yellowish eye, begin to appear 

 among the leaves, and as the weather 

 gets warmer, the little flower-stems gradu- 

 ally rise, and soon the plants become 

 masses of blue, remaining so all through 

 the early summer. Fortunately, it is 

 very easily raised, and comes quite true 

 from seed. It loves to be pinched in 

 between lumps of millstone grit, and is 

 apt to perish in winter if made to grow 

 too grossly. It is quite distinct from, and 

 much finer than, the dwarf mountain 

 form of the Wood Forget-me-not, often 

 met with on the Alps, the leaves always 

 being in very dense tufts close to the 

 earth, while the smallest specimens of 

 M. sylvatica seen on the mountains do 

 not branch below the surface, but are 

 rather slender and erect in habit. It is 

 also a true perennial, while the Wood 

 Forget-me-not usually perishes after 

 blooming. The garden home of the 

 Alpine Forget-me-not is on the most 

 select spots in the rock-garden where 

 it grows best, perhaps, on ledges with a 

 northern aspect, though it thrives per- 

 fectly in open sunny spots ; the soil to 

 l)e moist throughout the warm season 

 Syn., M. rupicola. 



M. Azorica (Azorean Forget-me-not). 

 This has flowers of an indigo-blue, and 

 rich purple when they first open. It was 

 first brought home by Mr H. C. Watson, 

 author of the "Cybele Britannica," who 

 found it near cascades and on wet rocks, 

 with a north-eastern aspect, in the Westerly 

 Azores. It is a little tender, but so 

 beautiful and distinct from our European 

 blue and yellow-eyed Forget-me-nots that 

 it is worthy of being annually raised, in 

 case old plants should perish during 

 winter, and it is easily increased by seed. 

 It is best raised in autumn, and kept 

 through the winter in dry frames, pits 



