CHAPTER II. 



Anemones and Hepaticas. 



Although many of the Windflowers are rarely thought 

 of in connection with the rockery, having almost 

 attained to the dignity of florists* flowers and come to 

 be cultivated in beds Uke Roses, Carnations and 

 Paeonies, the genus gives us numerous species and 

 varieties which are of the utmost value for the rock 

 garden, and we cannot afford to pass it over. From 

 the first thought of spring, indeed, long before that 

 season has opened, we get Anemones. One of the 

 earliest in bloom is the lovely Hepaticas but we cannot 

 look on this as the help which it might be from its 

 compact growth and beauty of bloom, unless special 

 provision is made for it, because it is a pronounced 

 shade lover, and will quickly die away from the sunny 

 parts of the rockery. Nevertheless, it has great uses. 

 Apennina is a dehghtful little plant. It has the hardi- 

 ness of the toughest Alpines, and gives us a colour — 

 blue — which is not common in rock flowers, or indeed, 

 in the whole of nature. Then, too, there is the exquisite 

 blandUj a winter gem of the purest quality, with large 

 flowers of a deep, rich blue. The scarlet fulgens^ with 

 its brilliant pointed petals, dwarfness, profusion of 

 flowers, hardiness and vigour, is a grand plant, of 



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