ROCKERY PLANTS 



No phase of gardening is more interesting to that large number 

 of persons which loves to take its hobbies seriously than the 

 cultivation of rock plants. Some people enjoy gardening in a 

 light and airy sort of way. They like just to "stick things in," 

 and then leave them to look after themselves. They are not pre- 

 pared to take much trouble; the necessity for that makes gar- 

 dening irksome to them, and robs it of its charm. Others are so 

 earnest by nature, so thorough and painstaking in everything that 

 they do, that they would no more think of taking their gar- 

 dening lightly than they would their devotions, or the training of 

 their children. They are conscientious, perhaps even to a fault. In 

 their play, as in their work, they study detail with infinite and 

 loving care. 



Successful rock gardening is not a process of "sticking in." 

 It calls insistently for detail. It is exacting. While rock plants 

 as a class have much in common they also have individual likes 

 and dislikes. One cannot put out a collection of rock plants in 

 the same way as a farmer can turn a flock of sheep into a field, 

 and let each look after itself. The making of the rockery is in 

 itself a considerable undertaking, calling for much care, judgment, 

 and knowledge. 



It is with no desire to frighten flower-lovers away from rock 

 gardening that its somewhat exigent nature is pointed out. Many 

 people will be attracted to it by this very fact. The point which we 

 think it desirable to establish at the outset is that the cultivation 

 of rockery plants is a different and more serious matter than the 

 handling of a few bedding plants. And having gone so far it is 

 desirable to go a little further, and make it clear that rockwork 



