88 WALL GARDENING 



I should be afraid to have such a strip of earth more than two inches 

 wide because the heaving and cracking are so much greater here, 

 where the mercury drops twenty degrees below zero. 



The finest chance of all, however, comes to every man who has 

 any sloping ground to deal with. For then retaining walls are nec- 

 essary and you may do the sort of thing pictured -e- pages 36 

 and 38. This particular treatment struck me as being very 

 beautiful but it may not suit your fancy too formal and too 

 little variety. If so, I challenge you to go to your library and 

 draw out "Wall and Water Gardens" by Gertrude Jekyll. If 

 that doesn't open your eyes to a wonder world of beauty I miss my 

 guess. For the treasures of the alpine regions of the world seem to 

 be unlocked by the process known as " dry-walling." A dry wall 

 is one that is put together without mortar, and it is generally 

 strong enough to hold banks three or four feet high. 



Hire an ordinary labourer no need of a high-priced stone- 

 mason or expert gardener. Provide him with a lot of alpine or 

 rock-loving plants. And as each stone is laid, lay in some of these 

 plants, sprinkling the roots with a little fine sandy soil not enough 

 to prevent the stones from setting firmly, but just enough to 

 encourage the roots to run clear to the end of the wall in search of 

 food. Back of the wall pack a layer of gritty earth. The plants 

 will soon find this and revel in it, for there they will have that com- 

 bination of perfect drainage and never-failing moisture which they 

 can get nowhere else on your place, save in a well-constructed rock 

 gar/den. Thus you will be able to grow many choice flowers which 

 would -perish on level ground because of winter wetness. Famous 

 examples of this in England are the wallflower, snapdragon, and 

 Cheddar pink. 



Even better than this scheme for America is a kind of wall 



