126 GARDENS PAST AND PRESENT 



for this practical reason among others, that only 

 a few plants, comparatively, prefer the shade of 

 trees, and for the class of which we are treating 

 there is nothing more essential than free circula- 

 tion of air with unimpeded light, as well as security 

 from damp and drip. Whatever form, therefore, 

 a rock garden may take, the site should be open 

 and free from overhanging verdure. This general 

 principle does not apply, of course, to a screen 

 of trees at some little distance, to serve as a wind 

 break. 



A good rock garden, which presupposes its tons 

 of limestone or granite, its army of excavators and 

 builders, and its distinguished expert directing the 

 placement of the whole, is a luxury of luxuries to 

 the garden-lover; but between the humble rockery 

 and the culminating grandeur of the perfect rock 

 garden there lies every conceivable gradation, and 

 one or other of these is at the command of most 

 garden owners. Alas for poor mortals who never 

 are but always to be blessed ! The making of the 

 rockery is but the beginning, not the crown of 

 success. Almost every inexperienced amateur at 

 the outset is apt to fall into one signal mistake. 

 Full of fervour and impatient to see the bare skele- 

 ton clothed, he plants any and every delightful 

 thing that appeals to his fancy or his judgment, 

 without regard to that fateful idiosyncrasy of every 

 plant called habit. In a year, or two at most, the 

 rank growers have asserted themselves and taken 

 sole possession, while the most cherished, and 

 often the most costly, treasures of the collection 

 are no more. The evil, unluckily, does not end 



