CHAPTER II 



PLANNING AND BUILDING 



THE term Alpine plants, though not a very definite 

 one, is generally applied to those plants, usually of 

 dwarf stature, which are found growing on the rich 

 upland pastures immediately above the tree line, on 

 any of the great mountain ranges in the world, and is 

 by no means confined (as it is sometimes thought) to 

 plants from the Swiss Alps. 



Plants from lower elevations are often included 

 among those we grow in the Rock Garden, especially 

 such as are of dwarf growth, and in many cases these are 

 of considerable value, though not perhaps so strictly 

 " Alpine " in their habits. These little mountain plants 

 have through long ages adapted themselves to the 

 rigorous conditions prevailing at high elevations, not 

 so much because the conditions are necessary to them, 

 but because they are still less agreeable to larger 

 and coarser growing plants which would, at a lower 

 elevation, over-run these more minute forms. 



This conclusion is, I think, amply justified by the 



