ALPINE FLOWERS 257 



keeping the rocks cool instead of hot. It has the aesthetic advan- 

 tage of supplying a dramatic conclusion to the whole effort. A 

 well at the lowest point seems natural, and since the highest walls 

 surround it, there is sure to be grateful shade in the heat of the 

 day a point we Americans appreciate. The heated period of 

 the English day is only three hours or so; with us it is nearer eight. 



A good time to start a rock garden is in June when the spring 

 rush is over and one can attend leisurely to the sowing of seeds. 

 It would bankrupt most of us to buy plants of every alpine species 

 we desire and beside alpines, as a class, do not transplant well from 

 nursery to garden. The favourite plan is to sow seeds in flats in a 

 coldframe any time from June to August, carry the young plants 

 over the winter in the frames and set them outdoors in their 

 permanent quarters in spring. Nearly all will bloom the year 

 after sowing. It is astonishing how many species can be started 

 in a little space. The frames pictured on plate 85 supply the 

 largest private alpine garden in America Mrs. Higginson's. 



The ideal way to propagate alpines is to grow them from seed 

 of your own saving, as it germinates quicker and better than foreign 

 seed. However, the easiest and cheapest way is to start with 

 English or Swiss seed. 



There are now about a dozen men who make a living by col- 

 lecting and growing American plants, and surely they deserve 

 encouragement. There is one in Vermont, one in Massachusetts, 

 and one in New Jersey, from whom almost any Eastern rock plant 

 worth growing can be secured in quantity. Another man has 

 spent a small fortune in educating people to like the hardy flowers 

 of the southern Appalachians. A Coloradan has collected most 

 of the Rocky Mountain flowers worth growing. The mountains 

 near Salt Lake now have their devoted student. The wonderful 



