CHAPTER I 



MY GARDEN AND ITS ENVIRONMENT 



ALPINE plants have always had a fascination for me, 

 but it was not until some six or seven years ago that I 

 had the opportunity of indulging myself with the 

 delightful pastime of cultivating them at home. 

 About this time I acquired a villa in the suburb of 

 Woodford in Essex within eight miles of the Bank of 

 England, and attached thereto was a garden of the 

 ordinary size and shape, the chief advantage it possessed 

 from an Alpine-plant grower's point of view being the 

 absence of any large trees. As the ground had received 

 but little attention for some years, and needed a good 

 deal of "getting into shape " no matter for what form 

 of horticulture, it seemed to me an ideal opportunity 

 to create little by little an Alpine garden such as I had 

 long desired to possess. 



There were, of course, many factors which act dis- 

 advantageously to the Alpine plants such for instance 

 as the close proximity to the great vapour zone of 

 London, which, over a large part of the year is sending 



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