ROCK, WALL AND BOG GARDENS. 



FIG. 271. 



Of course one great requirement to be fulfilled is a proper succession of effects 

 throughout the year, and the writer always feels that the rock garden is one of the 

 very best places for a Winter display. There are so many things, like Crataegus Lelandi, 

 Cotoneaster macrophilla, C. Simonsi, which love a rock or wall to trail over, and are 

 covered in the Winter with brightly coloured berries, which contrast strongly with their 

 dark olive-green leaves, which are evergreen. Then for flowers, we have the Christmas 

 rose, chimonanthus, the Winter jasmine and 

 others. The last of these is very useful indeed, 

 as it has bright green stems as well as 

 yellow flowers to give colour to the rock at 

 this dull time of the year. Then as the season 

 advances we should arrange for a fine show of 

 snowdrops, daffodils and other Spring bulbous 

 plants, which will come up year after year 

 without attention, and all the other Spring 

 flowers which are so charming in nature, such 

 as the primrose. The flowering currant (Ribes 

 sanguineum) is very useful too in very early 

 Spring, as it is of a larger size and a profuse 



bloomer, and the hedge mustard, of which the two or three commonest varieties are 

 all worth planting, should be included. Thus the garden may be attractive at the 

 dullest periods of the year, and until the regular Summer season commences, to be 

 followed by the autumn-flowering species. 



Plants for special positions will also be needed. Thus the foxglove is very useful 

 on the soil at the foot of a wall on its North and shaded side, as is also the roumelia 

 (Haberlea Ramondia) where not too damp, or the giant parsley, the rosette mullein 



(Ramondia pyrenaica), a pretty little Alpine 

 plant which may be grown from seed, and, of 

 course, nearly all kinds of ferns will be useful 

 in such a position. These last will also be em- 

 ployed in any damp situation on the rock work, 

 while, under the opposite conditions, on or in 

 the crevices of a hot dry wall, wallflowers, 

 Campanula pyramidalis (a form of Canterbury 

 bell), and the sunrose (Helianthus), with masses 

 of rambler and Dorothy Perkins roses, with 

 such things as roof leek and London pride 

 will make a good groundwork for filling in 

 from time to time. 



Nearly every nurseryman's catalogue con- 

 tains a list of plants specially chosen for 

 their suitability for the bog garden, and, if 

 the advice previously given is borne in mind, 

 to plant only a few native or thoroughly 

 naturalized varieties in large masses, the result 

 cannot but be pleasing. A suitable selection 



for most positions could be made of those things, such as gunnera and flags, which 

 have already been mentioned, with a few others to give added colour, such as the 

 large double marsh marigold (Caltha palustris monstrosa fl. pi.), three or four varieties 

 of orange globe (Trollius), and others of a similar kind. 



It is with the greatest regret that the Author is compelled, by the exigencies of 



FIG. 272. WALL WITH PROJECTING COURSES TO 

 INVITE RAIN TO ENTER. 



211 



