42 Planting Considered 



done with the building; for choicer things it were 

 better otherwise. On the principle of " one thing at a 

 time being quite enough," I much prefer building 

 and planting at different times. The mind can 

 then bfe concentrated on either the building or the 

 planting, with better results ensuing. Then I pre- 

 fer plant grouping in the walls, a grey patch here, a 

 white patch there, a sombre green as a mirror to the 

 other two not far away. I prefer, too, as plants, small 

 bits, freshly rooted cuttings, seedlings, or quite small 

 divisions, anything, indeed, endowed with the possi- 

 bilities of new life, destined soon to become vigorous 

 patches. Such work I contend is best undertaken with- 

 out interruption, not by attempting to do two things 

 at once. ITie small seedling or freshly rooted cutting 

 or divided example is easily pricked into position by 

 the aid of a discarded carpenter's wood chisel or simi- 

 lar implement, and a colony of ten, twenty, or fifty 

 quite expeditiously formed. An error to be guarded 

 against is overplanting. Not every crevice needs a 

 plant, and a rugged bit of exposed rock is picturesque 

 in itself. Avoid rampant growers like the double whita 

 arabis for all but the boldest walls. As a summit plant 

 in such a big patch' it would be very effective. 



Seed Sowing has the merit of cheapness, and, for old 

 walls, ruins, and the like, and especially with such 

 plants as Wallflow^^ Snapdragon, Iceland Poppy, 

 Thrift or Valerian, isfto be recommended. Within the 

 garden, where the more select things should be seen, 

 there is nothing to equal the cutting-raised plant, or 

 small divided examples raised from the most distinct 

 varieties of each group. Exceptional plants, like 

 Ramondia and the great Pyrenean Rockf oil (Saxif rdga 

 longifolia) (Fig. 21), will of necessity have to be 

 planted as fair-sized specimens, while so unique a sub- 

 ject as the Cobweb Houseleek should be introduced 

 in single rosettes an inch or so apart. This plant is a 

 great charm either in drier crevices of the wall or the 

 rock garden, its cottony rosettes always whiter because 



