ALPINE PLANTS FOR ROCK GARDENS 25 



corner, where it can be nursed and enjoyed intimately. The 

 late owner of Holland House, London, was so fond of alpines that 

 he planted small groups among stones on either side of the garden 

 door of that magnificent Elizabethan Palace, where they looked 

 entirely out of place. 



The suburban home should have a bit of ground at the back, if 

 its owner wants a rock garden. Stones are bound to look irregular 

 and inharmonious in formal surroundings, as can be seen when 

 rocks are left in a lawn. Harmony with surroundings is the funda- 

 mental law of successful gardening. 



In a rock garden, one can get closer to nature as she shows herself 

 on the mountains, than in any other way, if one has not the land 

 for woods and streams and pastures. Alpine plants are practically 

 all perennial, permanent, and stationary, not popped in out of a 

 greenhouse only to die in the first frosts. These temporary plants 

 have no individuality, no opportunity to adapt themselves to their 

 surroundings, and though they may be beautiful, they are not 

 interesting. Alpines take time to develop, and show their true 

 character, but once they do this, the happy owner, who has given 

 them their chance, can feel that he has real nature to enjoy, some- 

 thing superior to the learned combinations of the landscape gar- 

 dener. 



As has been said, the rock garden does not look well near a 

 building. But in the back yard of a suburban plot, a rock garden 

 will transform into an actual source of pleasure what is usually 

 the dullest corner. 



It is essential to put the rock garden in an open situation and 

 not under the drip and shade of trees or overhanging and greedy 

 shrubs. Shade from a building or wall would do no harm, if it 

 were only for half the day, and it is a great help with our tropical 

 summers to have at least part of the rock garden facing north. 

 Many plants, such as campanulas, mossy saxifrages, and androsaces 

 (rock jasmin) do better in half shade, and the flowers last longer 

 when not exposed to long hours of sunshine. In a small place, if it 

 is found necessary to put the rock garden near a tree, whose roots 

 would be sure to come after the good soil provided for the alpines, 

 a small wall descending as deep, or somewhat deeper, than the 

 roots of the tree, and made of rough concrete, would be a great help 

 in keeping the tree roots in their place. 



