PART II.] 



ALPINE FLOWERS FOR GARDENS 



329 



Cracca, V. Orobus, V. sylvatica, V. 

 Sepium, and V. argentea are among the 

 best. Vicias grow freely in almost any 

 soil, and are raised from seeds, and 

 increased by careful division. 



Vicia argentea (Silvery Vetch) has silvery 

 leaves, and of prostrate habit, but without 

 tendrils, and rarely more than 8 inches 

 high, spreading about freely in light and 

 well-drained soil ; the rather large whitish 

 flowers are veined with violet in the upper, 

 and spotted with purple in the lower, part. 

 It is not a brilliant plant in flower, but 

 the elegant foliage makes it worthy of a 

 place in the rock-garden. Pyrenees, rare 

 in gardens ; easily increased by division 

 or seed. 



V. onobrychus is a lovely Vetch, bearing 

 long and handsome racemes of flowers in 

 summer on the Alps of France and Italy, 

 and giving an effect like that of some of 

 the purple Australian Pea-flowers. It is 

 best grouped or scattered in a colony or 

 grassy bank in the rock-garden. 



VINCA (Periwinkle). Hardy, wiry, 

 trailing perennials, easily grown, free 

 almost too free but nevertheless 

 useful for bare banks, and welcome for 

 their bloom in spring. 



Vinca major is useful on masses of root- 

 work, near cascades, etc., and also in rocky 

 places or banks. There is a variety 

 called elegantissima, finely blotched and 

 variegated with creamy white, and several 

 other variegated varieties. The lesser 

 Periwinkle (V. minor), a much smaller 

 plant, is also useful for like positions ; 

 there are several varieties of it well worthy 

 of cultivation, a white-flowered one (V. 

 minor alba), one with reddish flowers, one 

 or two double varieties, and also, as of the 

 larger, several variegated forms. 



V. herbacea is a plant much less 

 frequent than the common Periwinkles, 

 and more worthy of culture on rocks, as 

 it is not rampant in habit. A native 

 of Hungary, flowering in spring and 

 early summer, the stems dying down 

 every year, it thrives best in an open 

 position. 



VIOLA (Violet). Dwarf, growing 



perennials of the mountain, woodland, 

 and pasture, many kinds of which 

 are alpine flowers. 



Some Violas are among the most 

 beautiful which bedeck the alpine 

 turf; and even the common Violet 

 may almost be claimed as an alpine 

 plant, for it wanders along hedge- 

 row and hillside, copses and thin 

 woods, all the way to Sweden. From 

 all kinds of Violas the world of wild 

 flowers derives a precious treasure of 

 beauty and delicate fragrance ; and no 

 family has given to our gardens any- 

 thing more precious than the numerous 

 races of Pansies, and the various large, 

 sweet-scented Violets. Far above the 

 faint blue carpets of the scentless 

 wild Violets in our woods and heaths, 

 thickets and bogs, and the miniature 

 Pansies that find their home among 

 our lowland field-weeds ; far above the 

 larger Pansy-like Violas (varieties of 

 V. luted) which flower so richly in the 

 mountain pastures of northern England, 

 and even on the tops of stone walls ; 

 and above the large free-growing 

 Violets of the American heaths and 

 thickets, we have true alpine Violets, 

 such as the yellow two-flowered Violet 

 ( V. biflora), and the large blue Violets, 

 such as the V. calcarata and V. cornuta. 

 It would be difficult to exaggerate 

 the beauty of these alpine Violas. 

 They grow in a turf of high alpine 

 plants not more than an inch or so 

 in height. The leaves do not show 

 above this densely-matted turf, but 

 the flowers start up, waving every- 

 where thousands of little banners. 

 Violas are of the easiest culture ; even 

 the highest alpine kinds thrive with 

 little care, V. cornuta of the Pyrenees 

 thriving even more freely than in its 

 native uplands. Slow-growing compact 

 kinds, like the American Bird's-Foot 

 Violet, from their stature and their 



