194 The Wild Garden. 



their verdure, in consequence of smut and other 

 adverse influences ; in all places these mossy- 

 Saxifrages will afford it most attractively if 

 planted on some borders near the window, or 

 better still, on a rather flat-lying fringe of rockwork 

 opposite them. I have seen a gentle bank, facing 

 the drawing-room window of a house, covered most 

 effectively in this way, having it studded with a few 

 " rocks," and then planting it with a variety of these 

 mossy Saxifrages and a few other perpetually green, 

 hardy dwarf plants. In winter it was most refresh- 

 ing to look upon — more attractive than the ever- 

 green shrubs beyond it. 



Next we have the beautiful Grass of Parnassus 

 (Parnassia palustris), a distinct and charming native 

 plant, rather frequent in Britain in bogs and moist 

 heaths. I have grown it very successfully in a small 

 artificial bog, and still better in six-inch pots in 

 peat soil, the pots being placed in a saucer of water 

 during summer, and preserved in a cold frame in 

 winter. It is, however, much better to " naturalize" 

 it in moist grassy places than to grow it in this way. 



The Spignel or Baldmoney (Meum athamanti- 

 cum), which is found in the Scotch highlands, in 

 Wales, and the north of England, and has most 

 elegantly divided leaves, being very dwarf and neat 



