ROCK OR ALPINE GARDENS 



There are few ways of making a small garden 

 interesting more effective than by the construction of a 

 simple rock garden for the growth of the smaller Alpine 

 plants, and in the case of larger gardens a properly 

 made rock garden always forms one of its most interest- 

 ing features. The first thing for the beginner to get 

 out of his mind, however, is the notion that the rock 

 garden proper has any relation to the heap of refuse, 

 broken pottery, shells, and clinkers to which the name 

 of "rockery" is commonly applied. A rock garden, 

 whether small or big, is merely a suitable home for the 

 cultivation of certain plants whose roots do best when 

 allowed to nestle against or creep under stones more or 

 less buried in the ground. In the " rockery," as it is 

 generally known, the aim seems to be to produce the 

 most showy and hideous collection of stones, shells, 

 and fragments obtainable ; in the rock garden the first 

 thought is the health of the plants which are to 

 occupy it. 



The object of the stones is to retain moisture for the 

 roots, and at the same time to keep the stems of the 

 plants dry. The usual mistake made in the construction 

 of rock gardens is to make a stone structure, and on this 

 to place a more or less shallow layer of soil. It is 

 commonly thought that these little plants require but 

 very shallow soil. A depression in the surface of a stone 

 is occupied with a cupful of earth, and this is thought 

 to provide a comfortable home for any Alpine plant you 

 may care to plant there. As these plants occur in a 



47 



