PART II.] 



ALPINE FLOWERS FOR GARDENS 



299 



Being a native of the swamps of Canada, 

 it is very hardy, thriving in a moist 

 light soil, though it prefers peat. 

 In very early spring it bears clusters 

 of rosy-purple flowers before the leaves 

 unfold. It is a thin bush, 2 to 4 ft. 

 high, and may find a place among the 

 shrubs near the alpine garden. 



RHODOTHAMNUS CHAMjE- 

 C 1ST US (Thyme-Leaved R.).A 

 small Rhododendron-like plant, rising 

 scarcely a span high, and thickly 

 clothed with small fleshy leaves, 

 ciliated at the edge, and with 

 exquisite flowers, of purple, bearing 

 three or four together in early summer. 

 This plant is very rarely seen thriving 

 in gardens, and for its successful 

 cultivation requires to be planted 

 in limestone fissures, in peat, loam, 

 and sand in about equal proportions. 

 A native of calcareous rocks in the 

 Tyrol, and one of the most precious 

 of dwarf rock-shrubs for association 

 with tiny alpine bushes. 



RODGERSIA PODOPHYLLA. A 



handsome leaved plant of the Saxifrage 

 family. The leaves measure 1 ft. or 

 more across, on erect stalks from 2 ft. 

 to 4 ft. high, and are cleft into five 

 broad divisions. They are of a bronzy- 

 green hue, distinct from any other 

 hardy plant. The flowers, on tall 

 branching spikes, are inconspicuous. 

 It likes a peaty soil and a shady 

 situation, and is easily propagated 

 by cutting the stoloniferous root-stock, 

 from one of which as many as twenty 

 plants can be made in one year. It 

 is a native of Japan, and hardy in 

 our climate, and a striking plant among 

 shrubs near the rock-garden. 



ROMANZOFFIA SITCHENSIS 



(Sitcha Water-leaf). A very dwarf 

 alpine plant of the Rockfoil order, a few 



inches high; white flowers, May. Suit- 

 able for select part of the rock-garden. 



ROMNEYA COULTERI (Bush 

 Poppy). If, as I urge, we associate the 

 choicer shrubs with the rock-garden, this 

 lovely half-shrubby plant may come in 

 a queen-flower, even among the fairest. 

 It is hardy and enduring on good 

 soils, and grows rapidly with me on 

 rich loam. Where the winter is feared, 

 the best protection for it is a mulch 

 over the roots of some light and 

 porous material. Pine-needles form 

 the best covering, or rough cocoa-nut 

 fibre. A point in starting is to get 

 healthy plants in pots, planting in 

 spring and not disturbing the roots 

 much. It may be increased by 

 cuttings and seed. 



ROSA (Rose). Given the shrubby 

 rock-garden we have an opening for 

 wild Roses (or the dwarfest of them) 

 with the mountain shrubs. Not a 

 few Roses are mountain and alpine 

 plants, such as the Pyrenaean, Scotch 

 and Gallica Roses, any of which might 

 well grace the rock-garden. Among 

 natural rocks or banks, any wild Rose 

 might be grown with advantage. 



ROSMARINUS OFFICINALIS 



(Rosemary). A grey aromatic bush 

 of the stony hill-sides of Southern 

 Europe, often grown on cottage walls 

 with us, but I never like it so well 

 as a group on a hot and poor sandy 

 or rocky bank in the southern 

 countries, or in the milder sea-shore 

 gardens. 



RUBUS (Brambles). These, which 

 run everywhere in Britain and stop 

 our progress in the woods, are not 

 wholly without interest for the rock- 

 garden, though many of them are 

 too large for it. A few of the 

 smaller kinds, such as R. arcticus 



