Gardening for Amateurs 



559 



A wall for flowers as it 



few months after planting. 



Flower Growing in Walls 



IT is characteristic of the enthusiastic 

 cultivator of hardy plants that, failing 

 the orthodox method wherein to dis- 

 play his treasures, he casts about for a 

 fitting substitute. The relationship between 

 the rock garden and dry wall is much 

 more intimate than a casual observer 

 might suppose. In the former each 

 stratum or layer is separated from its 

 neighbour by pockets, ledges or banks of 

 soil, varying from a few inches in widtli 

 to as many feet ; in the dry wall the 

 courses correspond to the rock strata, but 

 these lie so close above each other that they 

 form an almost vertical face, while between 

 the courses and in the joints is placed soil 

 from whence the plants draw their support 

 and nourishment. It is thus seen that the 

 idea of a wall garden, or dry wall, as it is 

 styled, is but a modified form of the rock 

 garden, inasmuch as the successive layers of 



rock, which in the latter are more or lr 

 widely separated and spread over a larger 

 surface in irregular masses, are in the wall 

 garden brought into closer relationship 

 lying directly above each other. No mortar 

 is used in the joints ; its place is taken by 

 soil. The dry wall may have a place in 

 gardens where space is too restricted to intro- 

 duce the more elaborate rock garden, and 

 the most acceptable form it can take is that 

 of a retaining wall, acting perhaps as a 

 support to a small terrace ; then the mass of 

 soil behind ensures that uniform moisture 

 so much appreciated by the roots of plants. 

 The position ought to be an open one, away 

 from large trees or overhanging buildings, as 

 the roots and drip from the former particu- 

 larly are fatal to success. Aspect is not of 

 so great moment, for it is possible to select 

 plants suitable for any aspect. 



The Best Material for building a dry 



