PART II.] 



ALPINE FLOWERS FOR GARDENS 



327 



slender steins form a dense tuft, the 

 flowers long, yellow, gracefully droop- 

 ing. It is a good peat border plant, 

 and thrives best in a moist peaty soil, 

 in a partially shaded place, and in the 

 bog-garden. It is a native of N. 

 America, as are all the others except 

 U. chinensis. 



VACCINIUM VITIS-IDJEA (Red 

 Whortleberry) is a dwarf British 

 evergreen, with box-like foliage, but 

 of a paler green, and with clusters 

 of pale rose flowers, which appear in 

 summer, followed by berries about the 

 size of Red Currants, like those of the 

 Cranberry, on wiry stems from 3 to 

 9 inches high. It forms a neat little 

 bush in peat soil. The Marsh Cran- 

 berry ( V. Oxycoccos)^ a native of wet 

 bogs in Britain, with very slender 

 creeping shoots and drooping dark- 

 rose flowers, requiring wetter soil 

 than the preceding, is also worthy 

 of a place where bog - plants are 

 grown. The American Cranberry ( V. 

 macrocarpum\ a much larger plant, 

 distinguished from the preceding by 

 its much larger fruit, is also worthy of 

 a place in moist sandy peat, associated 

 with bog shrubs. Some of the 

 American kinds are too large for the 

 rock-garden proper, though a few may 

 come in well among the shrubs, among 

 them V. pennsyllvanicum, if only for 

 its fine colour in autumn. 



VERONICA (Speedwell). Herbace- 

 ous perennials, evergreen, alpine, rock 

 and half-shrubby plants. An enormous 

 genus of plants, many of the herbaceous 

 kinds of which are too large for the 

 rock-garden, and among the northern 

 kinds this leaves a limited choice. 

 The more beautiful of the half-shrubby 

 kinds come from the southern hemi- 

 sphere, and, unfortunately, are not 

 hardy everywhere, so that these are 



less precious for our rock-gardens than 

 the northern kinds. 



Veronica chamaerdys (Germander Speed- 

 well). A well-known and much-admired 

 little native plant, with ovate, or heart- 

 shaped, hairy leaves, and with hairs 

 curiously arranged in two opposite lines 

 down the stem, while the other portions 

 are bare. The flowers are bright blue, pro- 

 duced in great numbers. It is abundant in 

 nearly all parts of Britain, and may be 

 allowed to crawl about here and there in the 

 less important parts of the rock-garden. 

 Easily increased by seed or division. 



V. prostrata (Prostrate Speedwell). A 

 dwarf spreading plant, forming dark- 

 green tufts, under 6 inches high, the leaves 

 lance-shaped or linear ; the stems covered 

 with a short down, forming circular tufts, 

 and nearly woody at the base ; flowers of 

 a deep blue, but varying a good deal, 

 there being several varieties with rose- 

 coloured and white blooms, appearing in 

 early summer, somewhat earlier than 

 V. Teucrium. A hardy and pretty plant, 

 flowering so freely that, when in full 

 perfection, the leaves are often quite 

 obscured by the flowers. A native of 

 France, Central and Southern Europe, 

 occurring on stony hills and in dry grassy 

 places, and, in cultivation, succeeding in 

 dry sandy soil, though by no means 

 fastidious, and easily increased by seeds 

 or division. 



V. repens. Clothes the soil with a 

 soft carpet of bright green foliage, 

 covered, in spring, with pale bluish 

 flowers. It thrives well on moderately dry 

 soil, but delights in moist corners of the 

 rock-garden, and is an admirable little 

 rock-plant. 



V. saxatilis (Rock Speedwell). A 

 brilliant, dwarf, bush-like plant, a native 

 of alpine rocks in various parts of Europe, 

 and also in a few places in the Highlands of 

 Scotland, forming close tufts, 6 or 8 inches 

 high. The flowers are a little more than 

 inch across, and of a blue, striped 

 with violet, with a narrow but decided 

 ring of crimson near the bottom of the 

 cup, its base being pure white ; appearing 

 in May and June, is increased by seed 

 or cuttings, grows in ordinary soil, and 

 should be in every rock-garden. 



