PART II.] 



ALPINE FLOWERS FOR GARDENS 



323 



Fern. And the finely-cut leaves are as 

 good for mingling with cut flowers, and 

 better in one respect, as they are of a 

 pretty firm consistency, and do not fade 

 quickly, like those of the Fern. It will 

 thrive in any soil, and requires no trouble 

 whatever after planting. 



Thalictrum adiantifolium Is pro- 

 bably a variety of this plant, and of like 

 use. 



T. alpinum (Alpine Meadow Rue}. A. 

 species with few flowers and four purplish 

 sepals. The plant is rarely more than 

 8 inches or 10 inches high, and has the 

 same use for the rock-garden. Native of 

 Britain, and N. America. 



T. tuberosum (Tuberous Meadow Rue). 

 This is about 9 inches high, and besides 

 the usually graceful foliage which we find 

 in all the dwarf forms of the genus, we 

 have, in this instance, an additional beauty 

 in the abundant mass of yellowish cream- 

 coloured flowers which this plant pro- 

 duces. It is quite hardy, and thrives in 

 deep peat soil. Spain. 



THLASPI LATIFOLIUM (Showy 

 Bastard Cress). A dwarf, strong- 

 growing plant, with large indented 

 root-leaves and corymbs of pretty 

 white flowers, somewhat like those of 

 Arabis albida, but a little larger, and 

 of a paper-white ; early in March. It is 

 worth growing with the earlier and 

 more vigorous spring flowers, comes 

 from the Caucasian mountains, and is 

 easily increased by division. A few 

 other kinds are worth a place T. 

 rotundifolium and T. violascens, of easy 

 culture in moist spots. 



THYMUS (Thyme). Dwarf, tufted 

 perennials on mountains and open 

 heaths, not showy in flower, but charm- 

 ing from their close, turfy growth and 

 pleasant odour, often neglected, I 

 think, for more showy things. Their 

 easy culture, and the pretty little 

 carpets they form, make them much 

 valued in the rock-garden. Our 

 native Wild Thyme and its varieties 



are as pretty as any other. Division 

 in autumn or early spring. 



Thymus lanuginosus (Downy Thyme). 

 This is usually considered a woolly variety 

 of T. Serpyllum, our common British 

 Thyme, but given the same conditions, it 

 is a better plant, forming cushions of grey 

 leaves in any soil exposed to the sun. 

 Few plants are more suited for such 

 places, in which many other plants will 

 not thrive, though it spreads so quickly 

 into wide dense cushions that it ought 

 not to be near very minute alpine plants. 

 Various other kinds of Thyme are worthy 

 of a place on the dry arid slopes of the 

 large rock-garden and on walls, but space 

 forbids any more than the enumeration 

 of them here. There is a variegated 

 form of the common garden Thyme (T. 

 vulgaris\ which makes a pretty tufted 

 bush, and many plants sold as alpine 

 plants have not half the merits of the 

 Lemon Thyme as rock-plants. Other 

 species in cultivation are T. azoricus, 

 azureus, bracteosus i Zygis^ thuriferus, 

 carmosus, micaus, nummularius, rotundi- 

 folius chamcedrys, and villosus, most of 

 which are of easy culture and increase in 

 poor soil. The white and highly coloured 

 forms of our common Thyme are good 

 rock or wall-plants. 



TIARELLA CORDIFOLIA (Foam- 

 Flower). A dwarf perennial plant of 

 some beauty, both of leaf and flower ; 

 the little starry flowers creamy white, 

 the buds tinged with pink, a mass of 

 the white flowers seen a few yards off 

 resembling a wreath of foam. The 

 young leaves are of a tender green, 

 spotted and veined deep red, while 

 the older ones at the base of the plant 

 are of a rich red-bronze. "Whether 

 planted in rock-garden or border, it is 

 beautiful, and needs only division 

 every two years, the plants being at 

 their best the second year. 



TRIENTALIS EUROP(EUS (Star- 

 flower). A graceful perennial, living 

 in woody and mossy places, with 

 erect slender stems, rarely more than 



