PART II.] 



ALPINE FLOWERS FOR GARDENS 



233 



Gentiana pneumonanthe (Marsh Gen- 

 tian). A British perennial, scarcely less 

 beautiful than any alpine Gentian, with 

 tabular flowers, an inch and a half or more 

 long, of a beautiful blue within, with five 

 greenish belts without, the lobes of the 

 mouth short and spreading ; on stems 

 6 inches to a foot high. A native of 

 boggy heaths and moist pastures, and in 

 cultivation requiring moist peat. It is 

 not recorded from Scotland or Ireland, 

 though not rare in some parts of England. 

 Few plants are more worthy of a place 

 on the rock-garden, and where the plant 

 occurs wild, it might well be guarded 

 against extermination. 



G. Punctata. A free, rather bold, dark 

 yellow kind, growing plentifully in Alpine 

 meadows, the flowers very distinct in 

 colour and form too. 



G. pyrenaica (Pyrenean Gentian}. 

 Somewhat like the vernal Gentian in size, 

 but with narrow, sharp-pointed leaves, 

 and dark violet almost stalkless flowers, 

 the flat portion of the flower being formed 

 of five oval lobes, with a triangular ap- 

 pendage between each, nearly as long as 

 the lobes. It requires much the same 

 treatment as G. verna, flowering in early 

 summer, and is well worthy of a place 

 in the choice rock-garden, though not of 

 such a vivid hue as G. verna. 



G. septemfida (Crested Gentian}. A. 

 lovely plant, bearing on stem 6 inches to 

 12 inches high flowers in clusters, widen- 

 ing towards the mouth, of a beautiful 

 blue and white inside, greenish-brown 

 outside, having between each of the 

 larger segments of the flowers one smaller 

 .and finely cut. A native of the Caucasus, 

 .and one of the best for cultivation on the 

 rock-garden, thriving well in moist sandy 

 peat. Division. 



G. verna (Vernal Gentian}. This covers 

 the ground with rosettes of small leathery 

 leaves, often spreading into tufts from 

 3 inches to 5 inches in diameter, and pro- 

 ducing in spring, flowers that even the 

 botanist calls "beautiful bright blue," 

 though botanical books are usually above 

 taking any notice of colour at all. Some- 

 times the blooms barely rise above the 

 leaves, and at other times are borne on 

 stems 2 inches or 3 inches high. A few 



things are essential to success in its cultiva- 

 tion, and far from difficult to secure. 

 They are good, deep, gritty loam on a 

 level spot, perfect drainage, abundance of 

 water during the dry months, and full 

 exposure to the sun. Grit o broken 

 limestone may be advantageously mingled 

 with the soil, but if there be plenty of 

 sand, they are not essential ; a few pieces 

 half buried on the surface of the ground 

 will help to prevent evaporation and guard 

 the plant till it has taken root and begun 

 to spread about. It is so dwarf that, if 

 weeds be allowed to grow around, they 

 soon injure it. In moist districts, where 

 there is a good, deep, sandy loam, it may 

 be grown on the front edge of a border 

 carefully surrounded by half-plunged 

 stones. It may also be grown in pots or 

 boxes of loam, with plenty of rough sand, 

 well drained and plunged in beds of sand, 

 well exposed to the sun, and well watered 

 from the first dry days of March onwards 

 till the moist autumn days return. In. 

 all cases, good, well-rooted specimens 

 should be secured to begin with, as failure 

 often occurs from half-dead plants that 

 would have little chance of surviving, even 

 if favoured with the air of their native 

 wilds. In a wild state this plant is 

 abundant over mountain pastures on the 

 Alps of Southern and Central Europe, and 

 those of like latitudes in Asia. 



GERANIUM (Cranesbill}. Showy 

 hardy perennials, for the most part 

 too rampant for the rock-garden, and 

 in no need of its soils or other refine- 

 ments. Therefore we should keep in 

 this case to the dwarfer and more 

 alpine kinds, such as the following : 



Geranium argenteum (Silvery Cranes- 

 bill). A lovely alpine plant, with leaves of 

 a silvery white, and large pale rose-coloured 

 flowers, on stems seldom more than 2 inches 

 high, and nearly prostrate. It comes from 

 the Alps of Dauphiny and the Pyrenees, is 

 hardy, flowering in early summer, and is 

 a gem for association with the choicest 

 plants. It loves a firm, sandy, and well- 

 drained soil, and should, as a rule, be 

 placed near and somewhat below the eye, 

 as, though the plant is of a high, it is not 



