276 



THE NATURE BOOK 



ol" the latter, since they wotiltl s^now 

 just as well anywhere else — in the ganleii 

 border, for instance, they would probabh- 

 thrive far better. The rock garden proper 

 is a home for Alpine plants, and it cannot 

 be said with truth that they would be 

 as happv elsewhere. It is a home for 

 mountain flowers, for fragile l)lossoms, 



must liestow upon them such care as 

 Nature herself expends on her own wild 

 hill-top blossoms. 



One must have spent lone hours among 

 the hills and dales, the rocks and rills, 

 in winter and in summer, ere one can 

 know the ways of rock garden plants. 

 Their likes are so subtle and their dis- 



ON THE TEKKACE, HOME PLACE, LIMPSFIELD, SUKKEY. 



for those that love -sun and others that 

 love shade — a garden in the best con- 

 ception of the word, a place where tlie 

 likes and dislikes of each ])lant may be 

 studied and its needs fulfilled. In the 

 whole realm of garden flowers there are 

 no greater sticklers for asj^cct and ])osition 

 than these exquisite Al])ine blooms from 

 the rocks, the margins of mountain 

 rills, from snow-bound peaks, and to 

 succeed in growing them is pcrhajis the 

 highest expression of the gardener's art. 

 One must know not only how and where 

 they grow, but the kind of soil in which 

 they grow ; beyond and above all one 



likes so pronounced as to a]i]iear in- 

 explicable, until one has solved the 

 secret of their waywaid lives. One must 

 grow them, and by tender, constant care, 

 by veiled experiment, by the subtle prac- 

 tise of one's deepest knowledge, endeavom- 

 to find the key to their cultivation. And 

 here it is that actual experience tells. Your 

 neighbour may grow some lovely Alpine 

 flower to perfection, and give such explicit 

 details of management as almost to em-, 

 barrass you ; yet, carrying out his instruc- 

 tions to the letter, you fail. It seems as 

 though some of these tiny plants delighted 

 to battle the would-be grower, for they 



