ALPINE PLANTS IN BRITISH GARDENS. 33 



with rock gardening than with the bedding-out 

 system. 



As generally understood, the phrase "hardy herb- 

 aceous plants " applies to those which die down to 

 a perennial rootstock every autumn, and grow again 

 in spring. Plants of this class are not, as a rule, appro- 

 priate to the rock garden. An Alpine garden is never 

 wholly bare. Most of the plants retain both stems and 

 foliage throughout the winter. It is only permissible 

 to include herbaceous plants when they are of small 

 growth, neat habit, and restricted rooting powers. 

 The smaller bulbs may be admitted. Non-evergreen 

 plants should not be allowed to dominate the rockery. 

 Even when, as in the case of some of the bulbs, they are 

 remarkable for earliness or exceptional beauty of bloom 

 they should only be accepted for use in colonies 

 at different parts of the rockery. This, together with 

 other practical points, shall receive adequate attention 

 in the practical section. 



There is one phase of flower gardening which lends 

 itself admirably to incorporation with the culture of 

 Alpine plants, and that is water gardening. So far 

 from rock plants suffering from association with 

 aquatics they probably benefit, for the neighbourhood 

 of water means more humidity in summer and less 

 frost in winter. From the artistic point of view there 

 can be no dispute that a rock garden rising from a 

 bog or pool has enhanced beauty. The whole surround- 

 ings of the rockery are improved by the presence of 

 water. When, too, in the heart of summer the Alpines, 

 following their inherited character of early seeding, 



