V E B B i tST, 1 9 1 - 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



17 



in ioooand therefore I did not account for 

 it in Bailey's Cyclopedia. According to a 

 prominent dealer in alpines at Rochester, 

 \. Y., it has pure white flowers which are 

 sometimes tinted with rose. It is said 

 to grow three or four inches high and 

 blooms in June or July. The plant which 

 I bought under this name turned out to be 

 a yellow-flowered species, so 1 cannot say 

 whether it has distinctive beauty or not. 



THE PINKISH OR PURPLISH GROUP 



We now come to four species that 

 normally exhibit some pink or purple in 

 their tlowers, and of these the most highly 

 colored is the bird's foot stonecrop (S. 

 pulchellum), so named because the flowers 

 are borne on several recurved or spreading 

 branches which suggested to someone a 

 bird's claws. Some nurserymen describe 

 the color as bright rosy purple; others 

 call it lilac. In winter the foliage takes 

 on fine shades of red or brown. There can 

 be no doubt about this plant being adapted 

 to our climate for it is native to the United 

 States. Barr calls it " a lovely rock plant." 

 It differs from the three species I am to 

 describe next in having green foliage, 

 with the apex of each leaf sharp, not blunt. 



THREE WITH BLUISH LEAVES 



There is something peculiarly exciting 

 about plants with bluish or gray leaves. I 

 grew fifty species of Sedum for two years, 

 and the one plant which every visitor 

 picked out as the most beautiful w r as 

 5. glaucum, a name which you will search 

 the Cyclopedia for in vain. Yet it answers 

 very nicely the description I wrote for 



5. Hispanicum, and I shall therefore 

 call it the Spanish stonecrop. It is a 

 minute gray-green plant scarcely an 

 inch high, indescribably soft, dense and 

 charming, while the color of the foliage 

 is positively unique — so much so that this 

 plant has been taken up by the carpet 

 bedding people. However, I do not be- 

 lieve they will spoil it, because Siebold's 

 stonecrop gives more color for the money. 

 These inch-high plants are too precious to 

 entrust to the ordinary hardy border where 

 they might be overgrown by robust plants 

 like phlox or chrysanthemums. Like many 

 other alpines they do better on walls and 

 in the rock garden than in the level garden, 

 because they need perfect drainage. My 

 plants never bloomed but they are worth 

 growing for the foliage. The flowers are 

 half an inch across, according to some 

 authorities, while others say they are 

 inconspicuous. The only character by 

 which the true Spanish stonecrop may be 

 known is this — the floral parts are in sixes. 

 Two running mates of the Spanish 

 stonecrops which are offered by European 

 dealers in alpine and rock plants are 

 .S. dasyphyllum and brevifolium. The only 

 way the collector may be sure of getting 

 what he buys is to study the anthers. 

 Those of Hispanicum are purple, of dasy- 

 phyllum, black, of brevifolium pink. 5. 

 brevifolium has white petals with a pink 

 midrib; the others have pinkish white 

 flowers. 



THE LYDIAN STONECROP 



The Lydian stonecrop {S. Lydium), 

 differs from the little charmers just de- 



scribed in having green — not glaucous 

 foliage. Yet two American nurserymen 

 advertise only "S. Lydium glaucum." 

 Loth plants disappointed me greatly for 

 one had yellow flowers and the other while, 

 whereas the true Lydium has a pinkish 

 flower only one-tenth of an inch in diameter. 

 Moreover, 1 saw the plant in the rose beds 

 at Gravetye and my note books says "The 

 flower is a quaint little thing and the whole 

 plant is full of character." "The English 

 Flower Garden" says it is "a pretty little 

 plant from Asia Minor, scarcely an inch 

 high, similar to S. Hispanicum, except that 

 the tiny, crowded leaves are greenish and 

 tipped with red. For edgings or slopes 

 bordering footpaths it is one of the best, 

 and likes plenty of moisture. It roots on 

 the surface with great rapidity, and may 

 therefore be speedily propagated. Very 

 small pieces put in the soil in spring soon 

 form a mass of rich evergreen verdure, 

 scarcely an inch in height and level 

 as turf. 



THE BLUE ANNUAL STONECROP 



The blue-flowered stonecrop (S. co>ru- 

 leum), is the only plant of its color in the 

 genus, so far as I know. (See page 16). 

 Unfortunately it is only an annual, and 

 therefore, must be raised from seed every 

 year. It grows only two or three inches 

 high and the minute pale blue flowers are 

 borne in clusters about an inch arcoss. 

 It needs sandy soil. This is the plant 

 which Gray took as his "model flower," 

 because it has all the parts that a typical 

 flower should have, and in their right 

 number and place. 



The wall pepper or biting stonecrop (Hcdum acre) in an American rock garden. It is covered with yellow flowers about hah an inch across in June and July 



