WILD GARDENS OF THE YOSEMITE PARK 141 



of their wedged and interlocked boulders has 

 been moved since the day of their creation, and 

 though mostly made up of huge angular blocks 

 of granite, many of them from ten to fifty feet 

 cube, trees and shrubs make out to live and 

 thrive on them, and even delicate herbaceous 

 plants, — draperia, collomia, zauschneria, etc., — 

 soothing their rugged features with gardens and 

 groves. In general views of the Park scarce a 

 hint is given of its floral wealth. Only by pa- 

 tiently, lovingly sauntering about in it will you 

 discover that it is all more or less flowery, the 

 forests as well as the open spaces, and the moun- 

 tain tops and rugged slopes around the glaciers 

 as well as the sunny meadows. 



Even the majestic canon cliffs, seemingly ab- 

 solutely flawless for thousands of feet and neces- 

 sarily doomed to eternal sterility, are cheered 

 with happy flowers on invisible niches and ledges 

 wherever the slightest grip for a root can be 

 found ; as if Nature, like an enthusiastic gar- 

 dener, could not resist the temptation to plant 

 flowers everywhere. On high, dry rocky sum- 

 mits and plateaus, most of the plants are so small 

 they make but little show even when in bloom. 

 But in the opener parts of the main forests, the 

 meadows, stream banks, and the level floors of 

 Yosemite valleys the vegetation is exceedingly 

 rich in flowers, some of the lilies and larkspurs 

 being from eight to ten feet high. And on the 



