144 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



remembered that all the surface should be planted. Not alone on 

 slopes, or favourable ledges, or chinks, should we see this exquisite 

 plant-life, as many rare mountain species will thrive on the less 

 trodden parts of footways ; others, like the two-flowered Violet, seem 

 to thrive best in the fissures between steps ; many dwarf succulents 

 delight in gravel and the hardest soil. 



In cultivating the very rarest and smallest alpine plants, the 

 stony, or partially stony, surface is to be preferred. Full exposure is 

 necessary for very minute plants, and stones are useful in preventing 

 evaporation and protecting them in other ways. 



Few have much idea of the number of alpine plants that may 

 be grown on fully exposed ordinary ground. But some kinds 

 require care, and there are usually new kinds coming in, which, even 



Steps in a rock garden at Coneyhurst. 



if vigorous, should be kept apart for a time. Therefore, where the 

 culture of alpine plants is entered into with zest, there ought to be 

 a sort of nursery spot on which to grow the most delicate and rare 

 kinds. It should be fully exposed, and sufficiently elevated to secure 

 perfect drainage. 



ILL-FORMED ROCK GARDENS. The increased interest in rock 

 gardening of recent years has led to much work of this kind being 

 done throughout the country, and without good results from an artis- 

 tic point of view. The rock gardens are not right in structure nor 

 good for growing plants. If they were good for the life of plants one 

 might pass over their other defects, but when made, as they often 

 are, of cement, and even of natural stone so that the plants grow 

 with great difficulty, owing chiefly to the stones overhanging so 

 as to leave dry and dusty recesses, the result is bad. No doubt 

 rocks do in nature often have such recesses, but they very often 



