ROCK GARDENS 135 



can be spared for plants to grow in, little dwarf alpines 

 will nestle happily there. 



This arrangement is a help to those who do not wish to 

 go to the outlay involved by stones for either " dry walling" 

 or a proper rock garden, because, even if there is a quarry 

 near, the expense of cartage is always a heavy one. It is 

 also a ready means of getting rid of useless stones and old 

 bricks, and will give a very great deal of pleasure where 

 a more important style cannot be achieved. 



Another simple way of making a rock garden is by 

 planting dwarf plants in the crevices between stone 

 steps. There often are cracks between two slabs of pave- 

 ment, and as long as these do not occur where the tread 

 comes the plants will flourish and help to soften the archi- 

 tectural feature. If stone steps are too important for the 

 garden, a very good alternative is to use disused wooden 

 railway-sleepers. They stand a great deal of wear and 

 exposure to weather, and if little pieces of dianthus, 

 aubrietia, and arabis are used in the interstices between 

 the logs of wood a pretty effect will be had. " C'est une 

 montagne de fleurs !" said an old French bonne, as she 

 looked up at the garden slope towards the different 

 flower-crevices which had been so contrived ; for even 

 the dark wood of the steps could scarcely be seen between 

 the bright colours of flowers. 



MASON'S WALLS 



In places where there are mason's walls that is to say, 

 not " dry " ones, but where cement has been used a 

 different kind of garden can be made. There are two 

 ways of doing this. Either cracks and holes can be 

 utilized for seed-sowing, and such pretty things as wall- 

 flowers, antirrhinums, or foxgloves can decorate them, 

 with perhaps a marsh rose growing up between ; or stone 



