Round the Year in the Garden 



Mossy Saxifrages. They form wide, spreading tufts of 

 exquisite green moss-like leafage in well-drained soil and 

 a fairly cool spot, and at this time of year are spangled 

 with their dainty blossoms in many shades of colour. 

 One of my happiest colour schemes at the moment 

 consists of the white mossy Saxifraga Wallace! and the 

 crimson one called bathoniensis. This is, I think, the 

 finest of all the red kinds. The flowers on first opening 

 are really vivid crimson, though they become lighter in 

 colour after a few days. Saxifraga Wallace! blooms most 

 profusely, but it has not the close, tufted growth of some 

 of the other kinds. Another Mossy Saxifrage that be- 

 comes quite smothered in white blossom is called exarata. 

 Probably the neatest of all, for it 'covers the ground like 

 a cushion of moss, is the variety Kingii ; it does not, 

 however, bloom very freely, but its attractive appearance 

 throughout the winter is ample compensation. One of 

 the daintiest of all is muscoides atropurpurea ; this 

 makes a close moss-like tuft and bears a profusion of 

 brilliant red flowers. 



I suppose every rock garden possesses that beautiful 

 little Grecian Pansy, Viola gracilis, of which the intense 

 purple blooms are now fully out, and will help to keep 

 the rockery gay for weeks. It blooms freely and con- 

 tinuously for a long time and is quite easy to grow. 

 Would that someone could tell us how to make that 

 incomparable Gentian (Gentiana acaulis) blossom. I have 

 several plants of it that grow well enough, but do not 

 bloom. At Kew they have no success with it; yet at 

 Madresfield Court one sees it as a wide edging to walks 

 and drives, as free and contented as the double white 

 Arabis. But we shall never solve the likes and dislikes of 

 all the plants we grow ; even the common Arabis, judging 

 from my own experience and that of many corre- 

 spondents, sometimes has the sulks and shows scarcely 

 a flower. Yet at other times it is as gay as we expect 

 it to be, and who knows the reason why? This is a 



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