PART II.] 



ALPINE FLOWERS FOR GARDENS 



273 



in the open air, thus hardy. A sunny 

 nook would suit it well, sheltered 

 from the north. Seed or division. 



PENTSTEMON (Beard Tongue). 

 Beautiful perennial plants of the 

 rocky mountains of North- West America 

 and Mexico, little grown in pur gardens, 

 though some are of the highest value 

 as rock-plants. The tall kinds grown 

 in our gardens require frequent moving 

 and rich soil, and are useless for the rock- 

 garden. What we should seek are 

 the true rock and mountain kinds, 

 dwarf in habit, and hardy. They are 

 easily grown on warm open soils, and 

 easily increased by cuttings or seeds, 

 but in the northern and midland 

 districts not many are hardy. 



The following are some of the best 

 for the rock-garden. Many are 

 excluded, however; some on account 

 of their rarity, and others because 

 they are not hardy. 



Pentstemon azureus is a pretty dwarf 

 branching kind, with numerous branches, 

 bearing many blossoms in whorls, clear 

 violet-blue, towards the end of summer, 

 and lasting a long time. California. 



P. crassifolius. Allied to P.^Scouleri, 

 but the flowers are of a charming light 

 lavender colour, and the plant admirably 

 suited for a dry knoll of the rock-garden ; 

 but this knoll must be well exposed to 

 the sun and on a deep mass of bog soil 

 or peat, so that while the situation of 

 the plant is dry, the roots may find what 

 they require. P. Menziesii resembles P. 

 Scouleri, but has reddish purple flowers. 



P. Fendleri. This is a pretty and 

 distinct species, glaucous, with a long, 

 erect, one-sided raceme of flowers of a 

 very pleasing light purple colour. In 

 height it rarely exceeds 12 inches to 15 

 inches. It is hardy in ordinary soils, and 

 is one of the most distinct species in 

 cultivation. P. Wrighti is a plant of a 

 similar character with magenta-tinted 

 blossoms, and the variety angustifolius is 

 likewise a pretty plant. Both are worthy 

 of culture. 



Pentstemon heterophyllus. A dwarf 

 sub-shrubbery kind, its showy flowers, 

 singly or in pairs in the axils of the 

 upper leaves, of a pinky lilac ; plants 

 from seed are very liable to vary. Though 

 hardier than many species, it succumbs to 

 severe winters. California. 



P. humilis. A distinct alpine species, 

 rarely exceeding 8 inches in height, 

 forming compact tufts, its large blossoms 

 of a pleasing blue suffused with reddish- 

 purple : it should be planted in the 

 rock-garden in a fully exposed spot in 

 gritty loam and leaf-mould, and during 

 summer the plant should be copiously 

 watered. It blooms in early June, and is 

 a native of the Rocky Mountains. 



P. Jeffreyanus. A showy kind, and 

 the best of the blue-flowered class, its 

 glaucous foliage contrasting finely with 

 its clear blue blossoms borne during the 

 greater part of the summer. It is a 

 handsome dwarf border plant, but not 

 being a good perennial, the stock should 

 be kept up by the aid of seedlings, which 

 will bloom much more vigorously than 

 old plants. North California. 



P. laetns is a close ally of P. azureus and 

 P. heterophyllus^ and, like them, is of 

 dwarf branching habit, with blue flowers 

 in raceme-like panicles about 1^ feet high, 

 blooming in July and August. It is a 

 native of California, and is as hardy as 

 most of the species from that region. 



P. ovatus, also known as P. glaucus, is 

 a fine vigorous plant, 3 to 4 feet high, the 

 flowers small, but in dense masses, in 

 colour varying from intense ultramarine 

 to deep rosy-purple ; their brilliant 

 colour, and the handsome form of the 

 plant, combine to give it a special value. 

 It should be considered a biennial, as it 

 usually flowers so vigorously in the 

 second year as to exhaust itself. Moun- 

 tains of Columbia. 



P. procerus is a beautiful little plant, 

 and about the hardiest of all the species, 

 as it takes care of itself in any soil. It is 

 of a creeping habit, sending up from the 

 tufted base numerous flowering stems 6 to 

 12 inches high. The small flowers are in 

 dense spikes, and being of a fine amethyst- 

 blue, they make it charming for either 

 the border or the rock-garden , It seeds 



