156 



ALPINE FLOWERS FOR GARDENS 



[PART II. 



Androsace carnea (Rosy A.). One of 

 the prettiest and most distinct coming from 

 the summits of the Alps and Pyrenees, 

 where it flowers in summer, when the 

 snow melts. It is known from any of the 

 other cultivated kinds by its small pointed 

 leaves, not, as in them, gathered in tiny 

 rosettes, but more regularly clothing a 

 somewhat elongated stem, so as to remind 

 one distantly of a small twig of Juniper, 

 or of the Jumper Saxifrage. The flowers 

 are pink or rose, with a yellow eye. It is 

 not difficult to cultivate in a mixture of 

 sandy loam and peat the spot to be ex- 

 posed, and the soil at least a foot deep, so 

 that its roots may descend, and be less liable 

 to suffer from vicissitudes. Thorough 

 watering should be given during the dry 

 season, particularly when the plant is 

 young, and before it has taken deep root. 

 Treated thus, it will form healthy tufts, 

 and prove one of the most beautiful plants 

 in the rock-garden in spring. Like most 

 of the kinds, it may be raised from seed, 

 sown in pans of sandy peat as soon as 

 gathered. A. Eximia is a large form. 



A. chamaejasme (Rock Jasmine}. This 

 does not nestle into close moss-like 

 cushions, like the Helvetian and other 

 Androsaces, the foliage forming large 

 rosettes of fringed leaves, the blooms 

 borne on stout little stems, from 1 to 5 

 inches high. They are white at first, 

 with a yellow eye, changing to crimson, 

 the outer part becoming a delicate rose. 

 It is one of the prettiest alpine plants, 

 and one of the easiest to grow on an open 

 spot on the rock-garden in well-drained 

 light loam, the surface nearly covered 

 with pieces of broken stone, with abund- 

 ance of water in summer, exposed to 

 the full sun, and not overrun by weeds 

 or grazed down by slugs. A native of 

 the Tyrolese and Swiss Alps, where it 

 flowers later than in our gardens. In 

 Britain it blooms in April, May, and 

 June, earlier or later according to the 

 season, is propagated by division, and 

 may be grown very well in pots along 

 with the rarer Rockfoils, plunged in sand 

 or coal-ashes. 



A. helvetica (Swiss A.). This forms 

 dense cushions, about half an inch high, 

 of diminutive ciliated leaves, in little 



rosettes, each resting on the summit of a 

 little column of old and dead, but hidden 

 half-dried leaves. A white flower, with 

 a yellowish eye, rises from every tiny 

 rosette, each flower being almost twice 

 as large as the rosette of leaves from 

 which it has arisen, and resting on the 

 little mass of glaucous green. Looked 

 at from the height of a man, the leaves 

 are not distinctly seen, the flowers quite 

 so ; and thus the effect is somewhat as 

 if one were looking from a height down 

 on some grey bush, with very large 

 flowers and diminutive foliage. Requires 

 some care in cultivation, full exposure to 

 sun, and a well-drained spot, placed 

 between and tightly pressed by stones 

 about the size of the fist, which will 

 guard it against danger from excessive 

 moisture, and at the same time permit 

 of the roots passing into the good soil in 

 the crevices. 



Androsace imbricata (Silvery A.). 

 This differs from the Pyrenean and Swiss 

 Androsaces in having the rosettes of a 

 beautiful silvery white colour. The pretty 

 white flowers are without stalks, and rest 

 so thickly on the rosettes as often to over- 

 lap each other. It will grow freely in 

 loamy soil in free well-drained spots. 

 Pyrenees, Alps, and is propagated by 

 seeds and division. Syn., A. argentea. 



A. lanuginosa (Himalayan A.). The 

 European species of this diminutive family 

 usually have their leaves in tufts as com- 

 pact as the very Mosses and Lichens. This 

 kind has spreading and, sometimes, long 

 stems, branched, and bearing umbels of 

 flowers of a delicate rose, with a small 

 yellow eye ; the leaves nearly an inch 

 long, and covered with silky hairs. 



A. 1. leichtlini is a variety ; flowers 

 being larger and the colour deeper. It 

 was grown for many years at the York 

 Nurseries, under the name of A. I. 

 oculata, which is the best name for it. 

 Add a little limestone to the rock-garden 

 light loam, and place the plant so that 

 its shoots may fall over the edge of a 

 low rock. Where the soil is free, and 

 not wet in winter, it may be tried as 

 a border plant. It is best propagated 

 by cuttings, and flowers in summer and 

 early autumn. Himalaya. In a district 



