238 The Wild Garden 



as a carpet beneath tea and other roses. There are 

 many forms of the mossy Rockfoil, natives of Britain. 



Next we have the beautiful Grass of Parnassus (Par- 

 nassia 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 6-inch pots in peat soil, the pots being 

 placed in a saucer of water during summer, and pre- 

 served 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 athamanticum), 

 of the Scotch highlands, Wales, and the north of 

 England, having elegantly divided leaves, and being 

 very dwarf and neat in habit, is an interesting border 

 or rock plant. In the plants of the umbelliferous 

 order there are not many native plants worthy of culti- 

 vation, except the Sea-Holly (Eryngium maritimum), 

 and the sweet Cicely (Myrrhis odorata), often culti- 

 vated in old times and gardens for various uses ; not 

 a rare plant, but most plentiful in the hilly parts of 

 the north of England. This for its odour and foliage 

 is welcome in the garden, and groups of it are pretty 

 between shrubs. The sweet Fennel, which is often 

 seen wild in the south on chalk banks, is a graceful 

 plant, and typical of the great beauty of form, which 

 belongs to many plants of the order. For the rest of 

 this numerous order they are best seen in a wild state 

 where their effects are often striking — particularly in 



