COLOUR IN MY GARDEN 



covered by mats of Cerastium, that, beginning a frail 

 thread of life in the top joint, has gradually felt its way, 

 tumbling over the treads and running its little green fingers 

 along the transverse joints and on, until the hard lines of 

 the steps are quite lost beneath the soft gray covering that 

 does not suffer in the least from being walked upon. One 

 would think that the Cerastium would be about all the 

 soil in the narrow joints could sustain, but more than one 

 lusty Columbine breaks through the thick mats, and here 

 and there, on the shaded side, are little irrepressible bursts 

 of Yellow Fumatory (Corydalis lutea) wresting a com- 

 fortable living from the most barren-appearing crannies. 



In our country, where time is slow to bestow its softening 

 touch of moss and lichen, stonework in the garden is apt 

 to have an alien, unconnected look. But by encouraging 

 suitable plant life in the chinks and joints and, where it is 

 possible, building the walls and steps and pavements with this 

 end in view, a more harmonious ensemble is created of the 

 widely differing elements that go to make up the garden. 



Tiny Ferns will grow in shaded places in chinks and 

 crevices, and Arenaria balearica from a comfortably cool 

 cranny will creep mosslike over the surface of stones, and 

 few plants are prettier for such positions than the fluffy 

 Yellow Fumatory. For sunny places, besides the many 

 garden plants that will of their own volition seek out these 

 narrow quarters, are numerous small things just suited for 

 the purpose. Some that I have established are Campanula 

 pusilla, some Acaenas, Viola gracilis, Sedum album, Sedum 

 acre, Cerastiums, Veronica prostrata and V. repens, Armeria 

 juncea, Thymus lanuginosus, Campanula rotundifolia, Sem- 



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