22 ROCK AND WATER GARDENS 



the character of the Alpine plants changes. Here the 

 children of the highlands and the lowlands meet. As 

 yet, we are below the line of snow and glacier, conse- 

 quently the flowers are not yet dwarfed beyond the 

 limits necessitated by ordinary full exposure. 



Blue is a colour particularly appropriate, contrasting 

 as it does with grey rock faces and the vivid green of 

 Alpine mosses. The Carpathian Harebell (C. carpatica) 

 flowers in July and August, its spreading tufts of large 

 cup-shaped blossoms filling a good sized recess. Its 

 relative the Mont Cenis Harebell (C. Cenisia) is much 

 smaller, with bright rosettes of leaves and blue flowers ; 

 it should be grown in the highest positions and in the 

 poorest soil. C. alpina and C. pusilla, the latter best in 

 a moist gritty loam, produce a charming effect when 

 planted in quantity. The Windflowers form a pro- 

 cession of colour throughout the greater part of the 

 year on the hillsides and meadows of Europe. For our 

 Alpine garden we may select Anemone alpina, a large 

 and graceful kind, requiring a deep soil. The creamy 

 yellow variety sulphurea, though not always easy to 

 establish, contrasts very favourably with the rich blues 

 of its relatives. The Common Hepatica (A. Hepatica) 

 blooms in March, and in sheltered places the foliage is 

 evergreen. A. apennina, found also in our own wood- 

 lands, is a delightful little plant. Nearly all the Wind- 

 flowers like a chalky soil. Erinus alpinus, with violet 

 flowers produced in racemes, is suited to small rock 

 chinks and the earth crevices between stones. In a 

 patch of moist peaty soil, if such exist, we may plant the 

 Bavarian Gentian (G. bavarica) with flowers of iridescent 

 blue rising from small tufts of foliage. G. angustifolia, 

 G. pyrenaica, G. Kochiana, stemless with dark blue 

 flowers spotted with green, and G. Clusii, are all hardy 

 perennials, and give those exquisite shades of blue for 

 which the Gentians are famed. 



