The Garden Magazine, March, 1922 



43 



right on growing, and bloomed freely the following year. No 

 part of my truly nice old garden affords me and my friends 

 more pleasure and interest than this wall garden. Strangers, 

 being led about the place, suddenly find themselves going down 

 some unsuspected little steps, with a whole new garden in view, 

 in front of which they can loiter, bloom and scents rising right 

 up to their eyes and noses. It is fun to watch their expressions, 

 as though experiencing a bit of magic — poking about with 

 Alladin! 



THERE is real magic in such a garden for even the experi- 

 enced gardener. Many things which refused to grow or 

 'even live on my level spaces suddenly woke up and throve on 

 the wall. Aubretia, which somehow objected to every other 

 site, simply took possession of desirable quarters next the steps. 

 Hepaticas, Rue-anemones, Dutchman's Breeches, Corydalis, 

 Cliff Ferns, Adder-tongues love it. Here Megasea leaves grow 

 thrice the size of those in other places. Arabis, Iberis, Sedums, 

 Houseleeks, Campanulas, Thymes, Creeping Phloxes cry, 

 "watch me!" Well, I have to, or many other things would be 

 crowded out. A white Thyme, so tiny it looked like splashed 

 green paint on the stones, grew envious of a still tinier Sandwort, 

 and. marched right on top of it, the two absurd darlings sticking 

 up their respective atomic stars in sweet fraternity. The Cob- 

 web Houseleek, and the commoner kind which grows over the 

 thatched roofs on English cottages, outline edges of rock like 

 inlay on fine furniture; and fascinating little Maiden Pinks 

 bloom and drop their seed on the ledges just below, starting 

 fresh colonies for the following year. 



I have never counted, but I am sure that more than a hundred 

 varieties of plants live here happily in close array. Start with 

 ten Stonecrops alone, from Sedum acre blooming in April to 

 Sedum Sieboldi whose exquisite rose-edged leaves and 

 bloom adorn my Thanksgiving table. Add half a dozen kinds of 

 Houseleeks and Campanulas, dwarf Pinks and Thymes, dwarf 

 and semi-dwarf Phloxes, and Ferns, and there is more than half 

 the hundred before I have really started to count. 



THE herbs love the dry wall and in many cases are truly 

 beautiful. I used to take up my true Lavender and carry 

 it over the winter in the coldframes; but a bit left in a chink of 

 the wall proved so hardy that it has never been coddled since. 

 The same thing happened to Kenilworth Ivy and one free- 

 blooming Begonia. Near the Lavender are Lavender-cotton 



(Santolina); Old Man and Old Woman; Rue, as lovely in blue 

 gown as is Santolina in gray; Nepeta Mussini; Southernwood; 

 Angelica; Thymes and Stachys; grey-leaved Gypsophilas are 

 here too, both repens and cerastoides; and Veronica repens. In 

 April I sprinkle annual seeds in bare spots — Rosy Morn Petun- 

 ias, pink Snapdragons, Silene, Ragged-robin, and crimson 

 Portulacas, because the gray of the herbs seems to glorify any- 

 thing in the nature of magenta. 



In another hot bit of the wall, to continue the golden display 

 of Hardy Alyssum and Stonecrops, I sow low annuals; lovely 

 blackeyed Santolina, dwarf Nasturtiums of the right shade of 

 buff, and California Poppies. 



Under the spreading perennials, and blooming right through 

 their carpet, are tiny bulbs: Scillas, Puschkinias, Chionodoxas, 

 Snowdrops, Aconites, and Iris reticulata; letting Iris pumila, 

 with persistent leaves, make a little edging against the lawn. 

 The tall Canadian Wood-lily is happy here, and some foot high 

 summer bloomers like Pyrethrum and Bee-balm; while toward 

 the back are groups of really tall things, level with my eyes as I 

 walk along the top of the wall. The fragrant Iris pallida 

 dalmatica is to me king of Irises — though orientalis pushes it 

 hard; extending into the lawn are Yuccas serving to keep out 

 marauding dogs from the rock garden, and glorious in them- 

 selves when their great spikes gleam in the moonlight, and 

 when they strew their bells over foliage and bloom far below. 



MORE appealing, though, is the shady part of the wall, next 

 the steps. Here are hanging festoons of Arabis, both sin- 

 gle and double; of Hardy Alyssum and Candytuft, Primroses of 

 many tints and kinds; Columbine hybrids of delicate colors; 

 Viola cornuta and such native Violets as prove not too rampant; 

 bits of Ferns I have toted from far-off mountains; a scrap of 

 Ivy from Heidelberg Castle; a tuft of Edelweiss, proving itself 

 neither white nor rare; a Harebell from Walter Scott's grave; 

 Herb-robert for its dainty name and flower and leaf and aroma- 

 tics; and last but not least, a great, useful ancient toad that 

 lives in a moist hollow roofed by a flat stone on which he sits 

 under the shade of a Polypody Fern. 



I could write indefinitely about my wall garden; because it 

 seems to me a good illustration of how even a very small bit 

 of waste land may be induced to yield up a succession of 

 beauty and interes; but I have already, I suspect, said enough 

 to make the reader long to try one for herself. Well, why 

 not? 



DEPENDABLE PLANTS FOR THE NEW ROCK GARDEN 



CLARENCE FOWLER 



HTHOUGH not necessarily Alpines, the two-score plants listed below are in character and adaptability eminently fitted for rock garden use and 

 * furnish a very pretty framework for the new rockery which may then be further developed at leisure to please the individual fancy. The 

 enthusiast who wishes to grow a collection of choice Alpines or to acquire more intimate knowledge of the needs and habits of rock plants in gen- 

 eral will find helpful suggestion on pages 316-321 of the February issue. 



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