PART II.] 



ALPINE FLOWERS FOR GARDENS 



281 



making it so unlike the Knotweeds that 

 garnish the slime of our ditches. Easily 

 increased by division or cuttings, and 

 thrives in common garden soil. Suited 

 for banks, and the less important parts 

 of the alpine garden. 



PONTEDERIA CORD ATA (Pickerel 

 Weed). A handsome hardy water 

 plant, forming thick tufts of arrow- 

 shaped, long-stalked leaves from Ij 

 feet to more than 2 feet high, crowned 

 with blue flower-spikes. P. angustifolia 

 has narrower leaves ; both should be 

 planted in shallow pools or by the 

 margins of ponds. Multiplied by 

 division of the tufts at any season. 

 North America. 



POTENTILLA (Cinquefoil). In 

 these herbaceous or evergreen herbs, 

 we have a family known in our gardens 

 mainly by its large and freer kinds, 

 chiefly hybrids. These are far too 

 free for the rock-garden, and would 

 soon overrun it. Among Cinquefoils, 

 however, are some of the most beautiful 

 and easily-grown rock plants, good in 

 colour and valuable for their tufted 

 and good habit for many situations. 

 It is a very large genus, and what we 

 have to guard against for the rock- 

 garden is kinds too vigorous or without 

 distinct beauty. 



Potentilla ambigua, from the Hima- 

 layas, is a dwarf compact creeper, with, 

 in summer, large clear yellow blossoms 

 on a dense carpet of foliage ; perfectly 

 hardy, requiring only a good deep well- 

 drained soil in an open position in the 

 rock-garden. 



P. alba (White Cinquefoil). A pretty 

 species, with the leaves in five stalkless 

 leaflets, green and smooth above, and 

 quite silvery, with dense silky down, on 

 the lower sides. It is a very dwarf kind, 

 and not rampant in habit, with white 

 strawberry-like flowers, nearly an inch 

 across, with a dark orange ring at the 

 base. A native of the Alps and Pyrenees, 

 of the easiest culture in ordinary soil, 



flowering in early summer, and easily 

 increased by division. 



Potentilla argentea (Silvery Cinque- 

 foil). As the name would imply, this 

 plant is covered over with silvery down ; 

 it is of a creeping habit, not exceeding 

 6 inches in height ; and though scarcely 

 definite enough in its argent character to 

 give it a status in the gaudy ranks of 

 the flower-garden, it is yet a very desir- 

 able plant to place as a variety among 

 dark -leaved plants in a rockery. 



P. aurea (Golden Cinquefoil). A dwarf 

 kind, about 2 inches high, with palmate 

 leaves, margined with silvery hairs. 

 The flowers large, yellow, spotted with 

 orange at the base, and borne in a loose 

 panicle from May to July. Suitable 

 either for rockwork or the open ground 

 in the full sun. Increased by division 

 or by seed. Mountains of Central and 

 South Europe. 



P. nivea. Dwarf, with whitish leaves 

 snow-white underneath. The flowers 

 yellow on slender stems, about 2 inches 

 high, in summer. Thriving in the 

 rock-garden in open soil. Seed. Division. 

 Arctic regions of Europe and Asia, and 

 Alps of Europe. 



P. splendens. A species with a woody, 

 branching root-stock and short stems, 

 forming a turfy carpet about 2 inches 

 high, composed of three (rarely four or 

 five) leaflets, which are green and 

 glistening on the upper surface, and 

 covered with silvery down underneath. 

 The flowers a good white, borne 

 singly on long stems from May to July. 

 Pyrenees. 



P. alpestris (Alpine Cinquefoil). 

 A native plant, closely allied to the 

 spring Potentilla (P. verna), but with 

 flower-stems more erect, forming tufts 

 nearly a foot high when well grown, the 

 leaves a shining green, the flowers of 

 a bright yellow, about an inch across. 

 Well worthy of a place on the rock-garden, 

 it matters little how cold the spot, and 

 will enjoy a moist deep soil. P. verna is 

 also worthy of a place in the garden, and 

 is of the easiest culture. It is not a very 

 common plant, but is found in a good 

 many parts of the country on rocks and 

 dry banks. 



