68 THE GARDEN BEAUTIFUL 



should be rooted out, but wild tobacco, bush lotus, 

 humming-bird flower, the tiny flat milkweed, or 

 euphorbia, or any natives bearing well the summer 

 drouth should be encouraged. Visits to the neigh- 

 boring hills, mountains and canyons would disclose 

 a wealth of plants for rocky situations in both shade 

 and sun where little soil or water is available. Plants 

 for rockeries may be of any and all kinds, for in a 

 large rockery may be found every situation pre- 

 sented in a garden. Ferns and shade plants should 

 go on the north or shaded sides, angles, or nooks, 

 while sedums and stone-crops, with cacti and other 

 heat-loving succulents, may occupy the sunnier ex- 

 posures. 



CACTUS GARDENS 



One of the chief charms of a cactus garden is the 

 great number of similar plants which not only thrive 

 under like treatment, but are often so near the cacti 

 in appearance as to be mistaken for them when not 

 in bloom. A full collection of succulents, as this class 

 of plants is called, affords a richer and more inter- 

 esting field for study than any other branch or phase 

 of plant life. They are splendid subjects for ele- 

 vated rockeries, for drainage should be of the best 

 in order to maintain cacti in good health. 



No family of plants recommends itself to the ama- 

 teur gardener more highly than the cactus group. At 

 no time do cacti need more than ordinary care, and 

 after once established they may almost as well be 

 left alone except for an occasional weeding. Most 

 of them have to endure in their native habitat great 

 extremes of heat, and in some places on our Amer- 

 ican deserts the snowfall is considerable, so that the 

 question of climate need not perplex the prospective 

 grower. In all cases the soil should be well drained, 



