Gully Planting 109 



way, a typical bit of mountain flower torrent, even 

 though in miniature, §^hould result. All such planting 

 should be from the bottom upwards: it is the only 

 way. Dipping the interposing bits of rock at a down- 

 ward inclination, dew and rain will be arrested and 

 soil retained in position to the advantage of the sub- 

 ject. Associate the plant with the rock in all such 

 work — i.e., insert the stone, lay the plant upon it, then 

 the soil. Avoid the straight gully; the meandering 

 rivulet form is more Nature-like, more fascinating. 

 By extending the principle to Primula, Saxifrage, or 

 Ramondia, garniture of the best may be secured 

 whether in sun or shade. 



Then it may not be amiss in this disjointed chapter 

 to refer briefly to a danger arising from neglect to 

 divide and replant certain subjects periodically. The 

 mound-forming Saxifrages and the mat-forming 

 species — Aizoons and Sancta, for example — ^are cases 

 in point. The centres of the former are often lifted 

 out of touch with the soil, big patches perishing out- 

 right under stress of great heat or prolonged drought. 

 The remedy in each case is free division and low-down 

 planting. All Saxifrages in touch with the soil root 

 anew from the bases of their rosettes, and opportunity 

 should be afforded them for so doing either by divi- 

 sion and replanting or by mulching. In the Aizoons 

 the very density of their growth often precludes a 

 liberal flowering; isolation of the rosettes, promoting 

 their subsequent development, making them more 

 prodigal in this respect. These with colonising fur- 

 ther the picture-making aspect of the subject. 



Not all the best of rock-gardening effects are the 

 result of employing the choicest plants. The yellow 

 Fumitory (Corydalis lutea), with delicate fern-like 

 foliage and yellow flowers, is all but priceless for 

 garnishing a sun-scorched cranny in the rock where 

 but the merest scrap of soil exists; while a few seeds 

 of any of the Erinuses inserted here and there in 

 high-up seams of rock will perform a like function. 



