xxvi INTRODUCTION 



ideal proportion is continually forced upon the higher 

 Alpines by the severities of nature, but not upon plants 

 that have a wider range and an easier life. But the 

 peculiar beauty of Alpine plants must explain itself, 

 if it is to be appreciated. You must be able to see 

 from its surroundings how it has come to be what it 

 is; and the rock gardener's art or game is to contrive 

 those surroundings so that they shall tell their own 

 story. He cannot do this so far as the elements are 

 concerned. He cannot provide winds or snows, but 

 he can provide rocks naturally disposed; and he must 

 do all he can to provide sunshine and fresh air. It is 

 all a game, perhaps; but it is one of the pleasantest 

 and most innocent in the world; and since it is a 

 game played with living things and against the caprices 

 of the weather, there is no end to it, nor is there ever 

 likely to be one. Some plants are easily enough grown 

 to-day that were thought almost impossible twenty 

 years ago; but still there are many, not only from the 

 Alps, but from the Himalayas, the Pyrenees, and the 

 Caucasus, that have not yet been tamed by any skill. 

 Some of these may in time yield up their secret or 

 grow content with our climate. Perhaps some day 

 the blue glory of the Fairy Forget-me-not^ will come 

 down from its mountain height? to shine on suburban 

 rockeries. But that will not be in our time. For 

 many years to come lonely triumphs will be possible 

 to every rock gardener; and, indeed, one often sees 

 some difficult plant better grown on a small rockery 



' Myosotis palustris. L. Y. K. 



