THE ROCK GARDEN 175 



are often the better both in health and in appear- 

 ance for being cut back; but even then they have 

 an ugly cropped look for some time; and one wants 

 a rock garden to look always both neat and natural. 



There are luckily a good many plants, often not 

 very conspicuous in their flowers, and some of them 

 apt not to flower at all, which look both neat and 

 fresh all the year round. One may, perhaps, grudge 

 them the space which they occupy in the prime of 

 the year and when all the plants are at their best; 

 but afterwards they more than pay for their places. 

 Every large rock garden should contain a good many 

 of such plants, and particularly of the smaller and more 

 prostrate shrubs, such as the prostrate Jumper, the 

 Prostrate Rosemary, Cotoneaster congesta and Coto- 

 neaster thymifolia, Santolina incana, and its dwarfer 

 variety, Berberis dulcis nana, the dwarf Lavender, 

 and the creeping Artemisias, especially A. sericea, 

 which is the most vigorous and easily grown, and the 

 more upright Artemisia argentea. There are also 

 shrubs which have brilliant flowers in their season 

 and yet never lose their beauty of foliage and habit, 

 such as the Alpine rhododendrons, Helianthemum 

 formosum (usually called Cistus); the varieties of 

 the perennial Candytuft (Iberis sempervirens), espe- 

 cially "Little Gem," and the large flowered Iberis 

 corresefolia; and several species of broom such as the 

 prostrate Genista pilosa, the double variety of Genista 

 tinctoria, and the beautiful Cytisus purpureus.^ Some 



* Not hardy in northeastern United States. L. Y. K. 



