CHAPTER V 

 ROCKERIES AND FERNERIES 



Who that has wandered up canyons and over hills 

 doubts for a moment that we may have beautiful 

 rock gardens. Those time-toned rocks covered with 

 moss and lichens provide in themselves a foundation 

 of unusual beauty and interest and the plants which 

 may be used for further embellishment are so num- 

 erous as to defeat a desire to list them in a brief 

 treatise for the amateur. Sunny rock gardens may 

 very fittingly be combined with cactus or desert gar- 

 dens and prove as great an attraction and evoke as 

 much interest as any feature in the home grounds. 



Every possessor of a garden, however limited in 

 area, can spare a shaded corner for a collection of 

 ferns and their allies. With the natives may be 

 mixed some of the hardy sorts on sale at nurseries, 

 for as a state California leads the nation on ferns, 

 Florida being a close second. Their chief require- 

 ment is shade, more particularly from the afternoon 

 sun, so that the east or north side of the house is best. 

 In this state where they have to be watered artifi- 

 cially they may be planted under trees, though they 

 must be kept well watered or the tree will draw 

 all the moisture away from them. Our native kinds 

 range from the little "golden-backs" only two inches 

 high, up to the woodwardia of deep canyons which 

 often exceed six feet in height. All are easy to grow. 



BUILDING THE ROCKERY 



Lay out the shape of your rockery on the ground 

 and use your largest stones first. Don't have the de- 



