Part I. 



ALPINE SUCCULENTS. 



39 



of from forty to nearly sixty feet, gives such an '' unearthly " cha- 

 racter to the mountain ridges of New Mexico. Many of the 

 dwarf plants with which the Alps and Pyrenees and other 

 mountain chains are clothed are succulent. They are as hardy 

 and as easily grown as the common Houseleek, which is an 

 example- of a northern succulent that must be familiar to all. 



The way in which these plants have hitherto been found most 

 useful in flower-gardens is in the making of edgings, borders, &c. ; 

 but when people begin to be more familiar with their curiously 

 chiselled forms, they will use them abundantly for making small 

 mosaic beds. Their great value as border and rock plants need 

 not be spoken of here, as we are now merely considering them 

 in relation to the bedding system, from which till very recently 



4^ r -^ * 



Fig. 34. — Bed of alpine succulents, with centre of Eclieveria metallica, surrounded by 

 Pachypn>tam, and ed^jed with Echeveria secunda. 



they were completely excluded. In addition to the making of 

 neat little panels, borders, edgings, and beds, they may be 

 employed for forming carpets to act as a setting for larger 

 subjects — a very pretty way of using them. 



Among the plants that have been much admired when seen 

 in this way are a few that are not hardy, notably so Echeveria 

 metallica and Pachyphytum bracteosum, the first very effective 

 from its large leaves of a metallic lustre, the second pretty and 

 curious. These require greenhouse treatment in winter, and 

 where the first is scarce, and the plants small, they will be all 

 the better of passing their first winters in a dry and warm house. 

 Growing larger than most succulents used in this way, it is 

 valuable for using as a central object among the smaller kinds. 



