ALPINE FLOWERS FOR GARDENS 



[PART II. 



danellas thrive, Dodecatheons will be 

 found to grow well, and form lovely 

 and attractive objects. All the 

 species and varieties grow freely, and 

 soon form large tufts, which require 

 dividing every third or fourth year. 

 The best time is the latter end of 

 January or beginning of February, 

 when the roots are becoming active, 

 taking care not to divide them into 

 too small pieces, as in that case there 

 is danger of losing the plants. They 

 may also be easily raised from seed, 

 but this can only be obtained in 

 very favoured situations. 



Dodecatheon Meadia (American Cow- 

 slip). Bright, graceful, and perfectly 

 hardy, is second to none of our old border- 

 flowers, supported in umbels on straight 

 slender stems from 10 to 16 inches high, 

 each flower drooping elegantly, the purplish 

 petals springing up vertically from the 

 pointed centre of the flower, much as 

 those of the greenhouse Cyclamen do. It 

 inhabits rich woods in North America, from 

 Maryland and Pennsylvania, in the North, 

 to North Carolina and Tennessee, in the 

 South, and far westward, loves a rich light 

 loam, and is one of the most suitable plants 

 for the rock-garden. In deep light loams, 

 the plant flourishes without any prepara- 

 tion, but where a place is prepared for it, 

 as is often necessary, it is well to add 

 plenty of leaf -mould. In a somewhat 

 shaded position, it attains its greatest size, 

 and beauty, though it thrives in exposed 

 borders, and is best increased by division 

 when the plants die down in autumn ; 

 when seed is sown, it should be soon after 

 being gathered. 



D. Integrifolium (Small American G.). 

 A lovely and gaily-coloured flower, deep 

 rosy crimson, the base of each petal white, 

 springing from a yellow and dark orange 

 cup, and appearing in May on stems from 

 4 to 6 inches high. The leaves are much 

 smaller than those of D. Meadia, oval, and 

 quite entire. A native of the Rocky 

 Mountains, a gem for the rock-garden, 

 planted in sandy loam with leaf-mould, 

 and increased by careful division of the 

 root and by seed, which it ripens freely 



in this country. It is easily grown in 

 pots, plunged, in the open air, in some 

 sheltered and half-shady spot during 

 summer, and kept in shallow cold frames 

 during winter. 



Dodecatheon Jeffreyanum (Great 

 American C.). A noble kind, which I 

 have grown as high as 2 feet in favourable 

 soil, and have known to grow much larger 

 even in ( London gardens than the old 

 American Cowslip. It has much larger 

 and thicker leaves, of a darker green, and 

 with very strong and conspicuous reddish 

 midribs, the flower being like that of the 

 old kind, except that it is somewhat 

 larger and darker in colour. It is a 

 hardy and first - class plant, flourishing 

 freely in light deep loam, and thriving 

 in a warm and sheltered spot, where 

 its great leaves may not be broken by 

 high winds. 



DONDIA EPIPACTIS (Dwarf 

 Masterwort). A most unusual form 

 of the umbel - bearing plants, and 

 amongst our earliest flowers. It 

 grows only some 3 or 4 inches high, 

 and though the blossoms individually 

 are small, they are surrounded with 

 a bright yellow involucre, retaining 

 its fine colour for nearly two months 

 of the spring. It is a strong-rooted 

 plant, likes a good stiff loam, and is 

 perfectly hardy. Carinthia and Car- 

 niola. Syn., Hacquetia. 



DRABA (Whitlow Grass}. Minute 

 alpine plants, most of them having 

 bright yellow or white flowers, and 

 leaves often in neat rosettes. They 

 are too dwarf to take care of them- 

 selves among plants much bigger 

 than Mosses, and therefore should 

 be grouped with the dwarfest plants. 



In addition to the golden colour of 

 the flowers of one section, the plants 

 are characterised by a dwarf compact 

 habit, and by much neatness in the 

 arrangement of the bristly ciliated 

 hairs, which not unfrequently become 

 bifurcate ; thus the attractive appear- 



