THE ROCK-GARDEN 



ROCK-GARDENS have of late years become increasingly 

 popular in the British Isles, and deservedly so, since they 

 give opportunities for appreciating the beauties of number- 

 less Alpine plants within a limited space, while one of their 

 chief merits, from the amateur's point of view, lies in the fact 

 that the proprietor, if he has a fair knowledge of the elements 

 of gardening, is enabled to do all necessary work with his own 

 hands. The plants may be attended to while he stands on a 

 stony pathway or rock steps, instead of upon the moist earth 

 of the mixed border. In dividing and planting the porous 

 soil scarcely soils the fingers, and stray weeds may be re- 

 moved by the feeblest hands. The rock-garden, if thought- 

 fully planned, offers, with its varied exposures and elevations, 

 a congenial home to a large assortment of charming flowering 

 plants that will paint the ledges and crannies with bright 

 colour from the early days of spring until past midsummer. 

 In mild seasons the Arabis spreads its white veil over the 

 rock-face in the first days of March, followed by the Aubrie- 

 tias, purple, crimson, and blue-grey, the dwarf Phloxes, 

 Mountain Pinks, brilliant Sun Roses (Helianthemum), and a 

 host of other lovely things that provide a succession of bright 

 colours through a long period. 



Much, however, depends on the formation of the rock- 

 garden, and in this, as in other cases, there is a right and a 

 wrong way of going to work. Unfortunately, in the majority 

 of instances, the latter method, or want of method, has been 

 followed, as may be seen from a casual inspection of the 

 numberless so-called " rockeries" that deface villa gardens 

 and others throughout the length and breadth of the land. 

 The constructors of such abominations appear to have been 

 utterly ignorant of the requirements of the plants destined to 

 occupy these sites. In many cases these " rockeries" convey 

 the impression that a cartload of rough stones or clinkers has 

 been shot out upon a heap of soil ; in others flat stones are 

 embedded in pairs at right angles to each other, in almost per- 

 pendicular banks, each pair enclosing a triangle of soil, which 

 soon becomes parched by the sun ; while there are yet others, 

 whose designers have evidently spared no pains or expense to 



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