ALPINE FLOWERS AND ROCK-GARDENS. 



153 



pull up a number here and there replanting them on the outer fringes 

 of the groups or elsewhere. 



WALL GARDENS. Those who have observed alpine plants must 

 have noticed in what arid places many flourish, and what fine plants 

 may spring from a chink in a boulder. They are often stunted and 

 small in such crevices, but longer-lived than when growing upon the 

 ground. Now, numbers of alpine plants perish if planted in the 

 ordinary soil of our gardens from over-moisture and want of rest 

 in winter. But if placed where their roots are dry in winter, they 

 may be kept in health. Many plants from countries a little farther 

 south than our own, and from alpine regions, will find on walls, 

 rocks, and ruins that dwarf, sturdy growth which makes them 

 at home in our climate. There are many alpine plants now 

 cultivated with difficulty in frames that may be grown on walls with 

 ease. 



The Cheddar Pink, for example, grows on walls at Oxford much 

 better than I have ever known it do on rockwork or on level ground. 

 A few seeds of this plant, sown in an earthy chink and covered 

 with a dust of fine soil, soon grow, living for years on the wall and 

 increasing. 



In garden formation, especially in sloping or diversified ground, 

 what is called a dry wall is often useful, and 

 may answer the purpose of supporting a bank 

 or dividing off a garden quite as well as ma- 

 sonry. Where the stones can be got easily, 

 men used to the work will often make gently 

 " battered " walls which, while fulfilling their 

 object in supporting banks, will make homes for 

 many plants which would not live one winter 



7 / ' )"** VS'-'Vp 



on a level surface in the same place. In my > ',*' 



own garden I built one such wall with large Pansy on dry brick wail, 

 blocks of sandstone laid on their natural " bed," 



the front of the stones almost as rough as they come out, and 

 chopped nearly level between, so that they lie firm and well. No 

 mortar was used, and as each stone was laid slender rooted alpine 

 and rock plants were placed along in lines between with a sprinkling 

 of sand or fine earth enough to slightly cover the roots and aid 

 them in getting through the stones to the back, where, as the wall was 

 raised, the space behind it was packed with gritty earth. This the 

 plants soon found out and rooted firmly in. Even on old walls made 

 with mortar rock plants and small native ferns very often establish 

 themselves, but the " dry " walls are more congenial to rock plants 

 and one may have any number of beautiful alpine plants in perfect 

 health on them. 



