io8 ALPINE FLOWERS AND ROCK GARDENS 



pretty Alpine plants. When the garden proper is 

 planted tastefully it is not desirable that the steps 

 connecting one part with another should go bare. 

 If an existing flight of steps is formal, and some more 

 economical plan of beautifying it must be found 

 than pulling it to pieces and making it anew, pockets 

 may be made at the side with loose stones, and filled 

 with plants. Rock Cresses, coloured Primroses, 

 Forget-me-nots, Gold Dust and other things will 

 brighten it in spring. 



Such sites are apt to be dry in summer, and it is 

 perhaps wise to rely on annuals, which may be sown 

 in May. Portulacas, Violet Cress, Candytufts, 

 Abronias, Calandrinias, LinariaSj Alyssum and Lepto- 

 siphons are a few of the best. I find the Toad 

 Flaxes (Linaria) particularly good on a dry, chalky 

 soil, and they are summer flowers. 



If the steps are near the house perfume should be 

 thought of, and a few seeds of Night-scented Stock 

 sprinkled about. The plant is not a particularly 

 pretty one, especially in the day time, when its flowers 

 are closed, but it will thrive in poor soil, and it has a 

 deUcious odour in the evening. Another fragrant plant 

 is Schizopetalon Walkeri. It is not well known, but it can 

 be found in the catalogues of most of the large seeds- 

 men. It grows a few inches high and has white flowers. 



In case of probable failure with the better things, 

 such as Portulaca, when sown out of doors, a few 

 seeds might be sprinkled in a box of prepared compost 

 and set in a frame to give strong seedlings for trans- 

 planting. Although this plant will grow on a dry 



