PART II.] 



ALPINE FLOWERS FOR GARDENS 



255 



pact masses thrice its usual size, in 

 deep sandy peat. Its true garden 

 home is the rock-garden, and it will 

 seem well worthy of a place to most 

 lovers of rare British plants. On the 

 high Alps tiny plants of it are charm- 

 ing. Syn., Azalea procumbens. 



LONICERA (Honeysuckle). Given 

 the idea of the shrubby rock-garden, 

 we have here again a fine group 

 of plants usually well-trained, grown 

 and often over-pruned on walls : are 

 themselves rock-shrubs, and will associ- 

 ate and mingle very well with many 

 shrubs that we may use in or near 

 the rock-garden. There are various 

 kinds worth growing, a description 

 of which will be found in "The 

 English Flower-Garden," and other 

 works. 



One can hardly go wrong with the 

 Honeysuckle as to kind; the Euro- 

 pean Honeysuckle, with its beautiful 

 forms, the Japanese, the Chinese (in- 

 cluding the Winter Honeysuckle), the 

 American, and the forms we call the 

 Dutch, I can imagine nothing fairer 

 than these grown in their natural 

 forms on rocky banks or among shrubs 

 near the rock-garden. 



LUZURIAGA RADICANS. A 



small half-hardy evergreen from Chili. 

 In the mildest localities, though even 

 in these, it does not thrive so well as 

 in a cool house. It is worthy of a 

 trial in a cool bed of peat, on the 

 north side of the rock-garden, among 

 the larger alpine shrubs. 



LYCHNIS (Campion). Theseshowy 

 perennials are usually too tall for the 

 rock-garden, but a few of the moun- 

 tain kinds are pretty, and quite fitting 

 for the rock-garden. 



Lychnis Alpina (Alpine .). In a wild 

 state, seldom rising more than a few inches 



high. " In Britain," says Mr Bentham, " it 

 is only known on the summit of Little 

 Kilraiinock, a mountain in Forfarshire," 

 but in 1886, under the safe guidance of 

 the late Mr James Backhouse, I had the 

 pleasure of seeing it abundantly in Cum- 

 berland in very lonely and high mountain 

 gorges. We found it on the face of a dry 

 crumbling crag, quite 500 feet long, and 

 of great height, and generally in such 



ritions that extermination is impossible, 

 some places where the rocks overhung, 

 it was in full health, where a drop of rain 

 could scarcely ever fall upon it ; but many 

 plants which had sprung from seeds fallen 

 from these cliffs were growing freely in 

 moist shattered rock. In cultivation it is 

 a pretty, if not a brilliant, plant, and may 

 be grown without difficulty in rather moist 

 sandy soil. 



Lychnis Lagascae (Rosy L.).A lovely 

 dwarf alpine plant, with a profusion of 

 bright, rose-coloured flowers, with white 

 centres when young, each about three- 

 quarters of an inch across, and quite obscur- 

 ing the small and slightly glaucous leaves. 

 In consequence of its exceeding brilliancy 

 of colour, and slightly spreading, though 

 firm, habit, it is well suited for fissures 

 on the exposed faces of rocks, the colour 

 telling a long way off, while it is also a 

 gem for association with the smallest 

 alpine flowers. It is a native of the sub- 

 alpine region of the North- Western 

 Pyrenees, and was introduced some years 

 ago by the late Mr J. C. Niven, of the 

 Hull Botanic Garden, in whose collection 

 I first had the pleasure of seeing it grown. 

 It is distinct from, and more beautiful 

 than, any other alpine or dwarf Lychnis. 

 It flowers in early summer, and is most 

 readily increased by seeds. Syn., Petro- 

 coptis LagasccK. 



L. Viscaria (German Catchfly).A. 

 British plant, found chiefly in Wales and 

 about Edinburgh, but widely distributed 

 in Europe and Asia. It has long grass- 

 like leaves, and very showy panicles of 

 rosy-red flowers, on stems from 10 to 

 nearly 18 inches high in June. The 

 variety called splendens is the most worthy 

 of garden cultivation, being of a brighter 

 colour. L. v. alba is a white variety, also 

 worthy of a place ; and L. v. flore pleno, 



