582 



Gardening for Amateurs 



should be given to the fact that a variety 

 of exposures is advantageous, some plants 

 prefer or require full sun, and others partial 

 or entire shade. All these can be provided 

 for by means of bays and projections, or even 

 by a judicious arrangement of large stones 

 to supply the necessary shade for flowers 

 which dislike full sunshine. 



One essential point is to ensure that rain, 

 or any water which may be applied artifici- 

 ally, shall find its way to the roots of the 



The Yellow Flax (Linum flavum), a rock plant for everyone. 



plants and not run off the banks. In the 

 desire to fashion a so-called picturesque 

 rockery some of the stones are often placed 

 so that they project over the lower ones, 

 with the result that the plants beneath do 

 not obtain the moisture they require. There 

 are certain plants, such as the rare Jankaea 

 Heldreichii, Primula Allioni, -and a few 

 others, which require protection from wet 

 on the leaves, but they are few in number, 

 and special provision must be made for 

 them. 



A Terraced Rockery. Amateurs hav- 

 ing but a small piece of ground at disposal 

 and wishing to cultivate a large collection of 



good plants rather than a few of the more 

 robust and easily grown ones may well 

 consider whether they would not be better 

 with a somewhat formal rockery, built in 

 a series of irregular terraces, which provides 

 space for numerous flowers, and enables 

 them to be cultivated without encroaching 

 upon each other. This plan is not now so 

 popular as at one time, but some experienced 

 growers consider that they obtain the best 

 results in this way, and are loath to forsake 

 it for a rock- 

 ery of more 

 natural and 

 more attrac- 

 tive appear- 

 ance. Briefly 

 put, this 

 method con- 

 sists in build- 

 ing the rock- 

 ery in a series 

 of terraces, 

 flat or nearly 

 so on the top, 

 and divided 

 into compart- 

 m e n t s by 

 stones i n- 

 serted trans- 

 versely. An 

 easy method 

 is to raise a 

 mound of soil 

 and then to 

 construct the 

 terraces, jam- 

 m i n g the 



divisional stones well between those of the 

 lower terrace and that immediately above 

 it so as to keep the rockwork solid and im- 

 movable. Each division can be furnished 

 with the soil suitable for the plant it is to 

 contain, and the cross stones prevent one 

 from encroaching upon its neighbour. The 

 terraces should not, as a rule, be less than 

 a foot across, and the space between the 

 dividing or cross stones not smaller than 

 that. 



As already indicated, a low rock bed is an 

 excellent structure for the cultivation of 

 alpine flowers. Such a bed requires but 

 little soil and few stones. It can be formed 



