26 ALPINE FLOWERS AND ROCK GARDENS. 



They teach us that our rock gems must have clear and 

 unobstructed Hght — that the purer and sharper the 

 air the better they are Hkely to conform to the dense, 

 low, rosette-like habit which is one of their greatest 

 charms. 



Appreciating these facts, we shall avoid making a 

 rock garden in a shady place. We shall give our 

 favourites full exposure. With the best that we can 

 do for them they will not receive that intensity of light 

 which they enjoy in their Alpine eyries during the 

 rich but brief summer ; however, as a partial com- 

 pensation they will get a longer period of light owing 

 to the greater length of our summer. 



There is no practical point in rock gardening which 

 is apt to cause more doubt than the arrangement of 

 stones. This is a matter that we shall deal with in 

 our cultural section. Meanwhile, it is well to point 

 out that flower-lovers who have the opportunity of 

 studying Alpine flowers in nature have an unequalled 

 opportunity for gathering information on the construc- 

 tion of rockeries, for they can take notes and make 

 sketches of those " pieces " which appeal the most 

 strongly to their sense of beauty, and reproduce 

 them, or copy them as closely as possible, when they 

 return to their homes. 



They can also note those associations of plants which 

 strike them as the most effective. 



