276 ALPINE FLOWERS AND ROCK GARDENS. 



together of huge stones in many large places in un- 

 skilful attempts to reproduce Alpine scenery, and it 

 is accentuated in many cases by a marked absence of 

 flowers. 



There is but one reason — other than the provision 

 of rubble for paths — for using stones in gardens, and 

 that is to form suitable homes for beautiful flowers. 

 The rock serves several purposes. It affords shelter, 

 it holds moisture, it provides a background. The 

 fact that it is not built up on a large scale need not 

 necessarily prevent it from serving all these purposes. 



It will not be difficult to show that shrubs may be 

 brought into use with good effect. The reader may 

 have formed an herbaceous border, and he may have 

 done it in two ways. He may have made a border by 

 the use of herbaceous plants alone, and he may have 

 made one with the aid of pillars (of Roses let us say) 

 and shrubs. It is probable that the latter will have 

 given him much the greater degree of satisfaction, 

 because the pillars and shrubs will not only have 

 formed permanent features, preventing absolute bare- 

 ness even in winter, but will have prevented uniformity, 

 and formed suitable backgrounds for flowers. Here, 

 for example, is a mass of scarlet Chalcedon Campion 

 {Lychnis Chalcedonica) in front of Lawson^s Cypress 

 {Cupressus Lawsoniana). The flowers shine with a 

 new brilliance against the dusky green of the feathery 

 pyramid behind them. Many evergreens are of small 

 stature, grow slowly if not injudiciously fed with rich 

 soil and manure, and thus are suitable even for small 

 borders. 



