THE RED ROCKERY 187 



amiability. Tussilago fragrans, by the way, is a hedge 

 weed in this district, and one will often find the sweet, 

 may -scented thing flowering during January and 

 February, far from habitations. 



Saxifrages, thymes, and aubretias now help to hide 

 my red rockery ; then a few primroses appear. My 

 stock of these is mean, and must be replenished. I 

 best love the pure, drooping lemon bells of sikki- 

 mensis, and next to her would choose P. rosea a 

 flower of delicious and brilliant pink. The gigantic 

 P. japonica, with its crimson scapes of bloom, is also 

 splendid ; while of alpines, P. marginata from Switzer- 

 land and viscosa from the Pyrenees are both kindly 

 growers and very handsome. The tiny P. Forbesii 

 prospers with me in my red rockery, but needs pro- 

 tection from vermin. Its little dancing flowers, of a 

 rosy lilac, win very general admiration, and appear 

 for nine months in the year. I have often been 

 tempted to try P. floribunda out of doors also, but 

 it makes such a magnificent pot plant that I am 

 refused the experiment. P. farinosa, the sweet, small, 

 bird's-eye primrose, came to me from a kind cousin 

 in Yorkshire, and has consented to settle beside 

 ramondia. Cortusa Matthioli grandiflora is a beautiful 

 being of the primrose order. The colour approaches 

 rather fearfully near magenta; but its habit is fine, 

 and it occupies a post of honour. Mr. A. W. Bennett, 

 in his splendid "Flora of the Alps," figures a cor- 

 tusa of a pure, pale rose-red. But I fear he would 

 be the first to say that his printer, and not nature, is 

 responsible for this attractive hue. 



