THE ROCKERY 81 



Thus he finds : 



Alliums Erythroniums Leucojums 



Bloomerias Fritillarias Muscaris 



Brodiaeas Galanthuses Polygonatum 



Calochorti Hymenocallis Puschkinias 



Colchicums Iris Scillas 

 Chionodoxas . 



I have chosen this list because most of the varieties included 

 are dwarf-growing bulbous flowers, which lend themselves ad- 

 mirably to special treatment as subjects for cultivation in the 

 rockery. Most bulbs revel in a well-drained site, and the elevated 

 soil of a properly made rockery gives them precisely those con- 

 ditions in which they are most likely to thrive. 



Moreover the majority of the varieties I have enumerated find 

 ideal resting-places in the nooks and crannies of a rockery, pro- 

 tected as they will be by the spreading evergreen foliage of such 

 attractive rockery plants as saxifragas, aubrietias, and sedums. 

 Here they will find a natural and cosy home, whereas if we 

 attempted to grow them in isolated patches in the ordinary 

 flower border they would seem lost in the large expanses of bare 

 earth surrounding them. 



But lest the reader who is unfamiliar with the names of many 

 of these delightful bulbs should still be alarmed at the prospect 

 of unseen difficulties ahead, let us examine them a little more 

 closely. We shall find that the Latinised names are merely a 

 cloak which hides the identity of not a few familiar and quite 

 well-known flowers. 



Thus we find erythronium to be none other than the dog's 

 tooth violet, that galanthuses are our old friends the snowdrops, 

 that scillas are bluebells in infinite variety, and that polygonatum 

 is merely Solomon's seal an old-fashioned denizen of many a 

 cottage garden. 



The varieties of allium that are most suitable for rockery 

 culture are allium moly, which produces bright yellow flowers 

 in May and grows to a height of one foot ; A. narcissiflorum, 

 which has rosy purple flowers and blooms in June ; and A. 



