In My Vicarage Garden 



which in some years flower well ; but though 

 quite hardy it is rather capricious in its flowering. 

 In the flowering season the Alpenrose must be 

 quite the glory of the Oberland, for it seems to 

 be everywhere and to be most luxuriant. In a 

 walk from the little Scheidegg (6788 feet) I must 

 have passed hundreds of acres of it, growing so 

 thickly that I should think it impossible for any- 

 thing else to grow with it, and, apparently, neither 

 cattle, sheep, nor goats browse on it. Near the 

 same horn (Gwennenalphorn) I was pleased to 

 meet with a few flowers of the Gentiana Bavarica 

 and some plants of the pretty pink umbellifer, 

 Pimpinella rubra, at that height a compact plant, 

 and well worth growing in the garden if it would 

 keep that habit. Of course, there were many 

 plants not in flower, but which it was pleasant to 

 see and recognise, such as Primula auricula, P. 

 viscosa, P. farinosa, and probably others, Soldan- 

 ella in abundance, Tussilayo alpina, Maiantheum 

 bifolium, Saxifraga rotundifolia, etc. ; but I was 

 surprised at the almost entire absence of the 

 sempervivums and sedums. I had hoped to see 

 plenty of the cobweb sempervivum, which is 

 almost as beautiful without its red flower ; but I 

 only found a few specimens near Miirren, and 

 not one of any other species, and their absence 

 surprised me. 



I have said that I did not expect to see many 

 gentians ; but I have seen more than I expected. 

 Besides the G. Bavarica just mentioned, and of 

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