CHAPTER II 



ROCK GARDEN CONSTRUCTION 



The actual construction of the rock garden demands 

 more than ordinary thought and care. So many miser- 

 able failures are everywhere apparent that we may at 

 least know what to avoid. From the small clinker built 

 mounds, hideously studded with shells, which may be 

 seen in those piteous little gardens of the slums, to the 

 vast heaps of vitrified rubbish, which in certain public 

 parks pass for rock gardens, there is a lesson to be learned 

 from all. If this is the proper way to build a home for 

 Alpine and rock plants, why is it that in such places the 

 plants are so unhealthy .' Are there not a thousand 

 beautiful flowers from the mountains which crave admit- 

 tance into our rock gardens .'' Why, then, the monotony 

 of these mounds and banks of slag and scoriae, on which 

 only dusty Ivy and rampant Vinca seem to thrive ? It 

 is well known that quite half of those who thrust 

 pieces of stone into the earth, in the belief that they are 

 building rock gardens, have no knowledge of Alpine 

 plants and their ways. They dot their earth mounds 

 with impossible pinnacles and piled up pieces of rock, 

 placing fantastic effect in the forefront of their endeavour. 

 When finished, their " rockery " is about as well adapted 

 as a home for plants as it would be to serve as a break- 

 water. 



The position of the rock garden will necessarily be 

 determined by special circumstances, but there are certain 

 rules which hold good in all cases. In the first place, 



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