1 40 GARDENING FOR BEGINNERS 



tion. It is generally best to use country stone that is, stone 

 easily procurable in the locality in the construction of the 

 rock-garden, unless the stone be of a nature likely to crumble 

 away. No spar or carved stonework should be employed, 

 while old tree roots should be rigorously excluded, as these 

 breed fungi. Simple paths only are necessary in the rock- 

 garden. 



Here and there along the irregular edges, Sea Pinks 

 (Anneria), Sedums, Saxifrages, Corydalis, and other plants, 

 throwing out into the walk, will create an informal verge, 

 while in the chinks of rough rock-steps the Erinus alpinus 

 will blossom freely, and Arenaria balearica spangle the per- 

 pendicular stone faces at the side with countless tiny white 

 blossoms. Some plants, such as Ramondia-pyrenaica, prefer 

 shade, while others delight in the fullest sunshine, and for 

 each class sites are readily provided in the well-arranged 

 rock-garden. In the lowest level a bog bed may be formed 

 where hardy Cypripediums, Trilliums, and other moisture- 

 loving plants will flourish. Running water, though by no 

 means a necessity, adds much to the charm of such a garden, 

 and where this is procurable a streamlet, falling from the 

 higher to the lower levels by a series of cascades, passing here 

 over rocky slabs and there beneath overhanging outcrops of 

 stone, and entering at length an informal rock basin where the 

 hardy Water-lilies flower, produces a pretty effect. The sur- 

 roundings of the ideal rock-garden should be picturesque, and 

 it therefore follows that the most perfect is one that is not 

 overlooked by houses or buildings. Such a site is, however, 

 out of the question in the majority of small gardens, in which 

 the rock plants will flower as profusely as when provided with 

 a less formal environment. No trees should overhang the 

 rock-garden, but the shelter of a belt of shrubs, planted at a 

 sufficient distance to preclude their roots robbing the soil, is a 

 decided advantage. The selection of plants for the embellish- 

 ment of the rock-garden is largely a matter of taste, but the 

 following list of fifty, compiled by Mr. S. Arnott for The 

 Garden, will serve as a good guide. 



THE FIFTY BEST ALPINES FOR SMALL GARDENS 



It requires a considerable amount of temerity to submit a 

 list of fifty alpines, and to assert that they are the best fifty for 

 a small garden. Criticisms, some of them doubtless well 

 founded, will arise, but it must be remembered that several 



