ROCK GARDENS 259 



gests these things, and more. And certainly it is 

 well established of alpine plants generally that in 

 some places they will grow exuberantly while in 

 other places, seemingly no different in the least 

 detail, they will not. One must plant and try 

 — and if at first you don't succeed try again! 



Rock gardening is therefore somewhat ex- 

 citing; and that it does take fairly a gambling 

 hold upon its devotees must be admitted. 

 Whatever the final intention may be, it is best 

 to begin with the easily grown rock plants — 

 distinctly not of the class known as alpines but 

 just common, good-natured, easy-going and 

 obliging little creatures, usually anxious to 

 please and eager to live. True alpines are, as 

 their name implies, plants of the mountains; 

 some indeed are of the mountain-tops, away 

 above timber line. Their culture is one of the 

 highly specialized branches of garden interest 

 that enthusiasts delight in; but this is not the 

 sort of interest that promotes the finest garden, 

 in the general sense — for one may be ever so 

 profoundly interested in plants and yet have no 

 garden worthy of the name, since the concep- 

 tion of a garden that the artist-gardener cher- 

 ishes is always the answer to every requirement 

 rather than to any one or two. 



The wall garden wherein the stone ledges of 



