In My Vicarage Garden 



carpet plants, and can do no more than name a 

 few. The mossy saxifrages are more cushion 

 than carpet plants, and are very apt to get brown 

 patches which are unsightly. All the thymes are 

 good for the purpose, especially the pure white 

 and the dark red. Arenaria Balearica is a first- 

 rate carpet plant for stones in damp places, but 

 it is somewhat difficult to establish. Hutchinsia 

 Alpina makes an excellent dark green very close 

 carpet, and when covered with its pretty pure 

 white flowers is one of the best flowers of 

 spring. Many of the low-growing Veronicas, 

 especially V. repens, are almost as good, and 

 I will close the list with Herniaria diandra, 

 which, though only an annual, will often cover 

 a considerable space, and keep green all the 

 winter. 



This, of course, is not a complete list of the 

 many good carpet plants that we may use, but it 

 will be enough to show that we have many good 

 plants which will cover the ground for us, and 

 soon make a brave show of greenery at all times. 

 There is one point in the cultivation of these 

 plants which may be worth mentioning. A good 

 carpet cannot be made in one season, even by 

 planting several plants together, for I have found 

 by experience that one plant allowed to spread 

 and increase in its own natural way makes the 

 best mass in the end. Gardeners are often too 

 apt to try to get perfection at a stroke ; they 



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